Palayan City, NUEVA ECIJA – Members of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsisibuyas ng Nueva Ecija (KASAMNE) cooperative recently undergo consultation and baseline gathering in preparation for the implementation of a proposed cold storage facility, here, held on January 18, 2021.

The proposed cold storage facility will be funded under the I-REAP Additional Financing 2 (AF-2) of the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) that intends to provide farmer-members access to cold storage to ensure the quality of onions to reduce post-harvest losses, and eventually obtain a good price.

A public consultation was conducted by the Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO 3) Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES) Unit to engage the farmer-beneficiaries in understanding how they will be affected by the project and provide the opportunity to gather and include positive views.

Also, the consultation is a way to build trust and promote transparency that allows the members to express informed and balanced
opinions on the project to meaningfully tackle issues and concerns.

Meanwhile, RPCO 3 Monitoring and Evaluation Unit M&E led the baseline gathering of data to some 30 selected members to gauge the project needs to be established before the implementation takes place likewise to measure the desired outcome or changes over time.

To conclude the series of activities, the RPCO 3 Components and Units presented some of the requirements and guidelines to be complied by the KASAMNE.

-By: Ma. Reina Len Luna, InfoACE