THE Aboitiz Group, as part of an initiative to optimize crop yields and reduce harvest wastes among farmers, has put up a modular cold storage unit for use by farmers in Mankayan town, Benguet.
The cold storage is the first phase of the group’s Fresh Depot initiative, which aims to use both physical and digital solutions to optimize crop yields. The storage was handed over to Mankayan’s Manpat-A Farmers Association for initial testing in effectiveness.
The second phase would see a digital database of farmer land, farming practices, and both pre-and post-harvest logistics for analysis and improvement.
“Digitization will allow Fresh Depot to offer advisory services, explore market linkage opportunities and financial inclusion programs, as well as build a database of information that the government can utilize for their agricultural programs,” Aboitiz said in its statement.
The pilot, which will run for three to six months, will serve as a case study for a possible scale-up, according to Aboitiz.