The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) is urging the government to invest in container barge terminals to facilitate a more seamless flow of commodities, which could potentially lower food prices.

PCAFI said the project is ideal for underutilized ports situated among the country’s key food-producing islands

The group identified the islands of Basilan, Bohol, Busuanga, Catanduanes, Leyte, Marinduque, Masbate, Mindoro, Palawan, and Samar for having limited access to modern container logistics.

These islands often face challenges in accessing critical planting inputs such as animal feeds, fertilizers, and chemicals, as well as transporting their produce that could serve as raw materials.

PCAFI President Danilo Fausto said modern container logistics are essential not only to production inputs, but also for export markets.

Fausto said the government can pilot the project in Samar to address the supply bottlenecks caused by the ongoing rehabilitation of the San Juanico bridge, which connects the province to Leyte.

Estimated to cost as much as ₱100 million, he said the government can opt to overhaul the underutilized San Isidro Ferry Port in Northern Samar for the project.

The port is recommended to be equipped with a combination of forklifts and reach stackers that could move 20-foot containers to and from landing craft tanks.

This is seen as relieving pressure on roll-on, roll-off (RORO) operations, with the ferry system being utilized to transport goods within the region. It is expected to take out up to 200 truck movements per day.

Apart from easier inbound and outbound of key commodities, Fausto said this will also benefit nearby ports in Cebu and Iloilo, which serve as transshipment points for exports.

The official said the government can also pilot the container logistics project in Palawan by expanding Brooke’s Point Port and Mindoro through Calapan and Abra de Ilog ports, with investments of ₱250 million and ₱50 million each, respectively.

Expanded access

PCAFI is also asking the Marcos administration to consider transferring the Agriculture Guarantee Fund Pool (AGFP) to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to make it more responsive to the needs of small farmers and fisherfolk.

The AGFP is the government’s measure to encourage lending institutions to lend to small farmers and fisherfolk by providing guarantee coverage to their unsecured loans.

Through the AGFP, at least 85 percent of the unsecured loans extended by financial institutions are covered by state guarantee.

The fund is under the state-run Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee), which is overseen by the Department of Finance (DOF).

“To provide easy access to cheap credit for our farmers, the administration of the AGFP should be transferred back to the DA,” said Fausto.

“This will provide confidence to financial institutions to lend to even the small-hold agricultural players,” he added.

Fausto noted that the limited access to credit by farmers and fisherfolk is one of the challenges in improving the agriculture sector.