The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) is seeking P30 billion to bankroll the upgrade of 18 regional and subregional seaports into deepwater ports for reduced food production costs.
According to the department’s initial financing requirement to develop 18 ports, the PDFA will need P6.04 billion this year and P24.08 billion next year.
PFDA’s four-year development plan will reportedly deepen access channels to the ports to accommodate fully-laden Panamax vessels, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.
The agency’s upgrade also includes building silos, cold storage, agricultural processing areas, cargo handling facilities, quays, shipyards, fuel depots, and pipelines.
Tiu Laurel underscored the need to tackle transporting and distributing goods during a meeting with the Federation of Free Farmers to ensure that the produce will arrive at places with high demand from regions with ample production.
“This includes transporting inputs to areas they are most needed to reduce food production cost,” the department said.
The agri chief noted that lowering food production and distribution costs would boost farmers’ and fisherfolks’ incomes, even if it leads to a dip in food prices.
Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel backed PFDA’s goal to use regional ports as entry and exit points for agricultural commodities to reduce the cost of transporting farm and fishery products across the islands.
From the agency’s 2024 budget, P4.2 billion will be for developing seven regional ports: four fish ports in Davao, General Santos, Iloilo, and Zamboanga, and the three deepwater ports in Cebu, Palawan, and Surigao City. The balance will be for subports with deepwater ports of three to five hectares.
The 11 subports that the PFDA flagged for development are those in Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte; Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; Bongao, Tawi-Tawi; San Jose, Occidental Mindoro; Cataingan, Masbate; Infanta, Quezon; Pantao, Albay; Kalmansig, Sultan Kudarat; Bataan; Mati City, Davao Oriental; and Cadiz, Negros.
