Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar led the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Oriental Mindoro Calamansi Trading Center (OMCTC), as it entered into a partnership with KLT Fruits Incorporated for the supply of calamansi on September 24, 2021.

Under the partnership, 200 calamansi farmer members of the Naujan Farmers’ Association (NAFA), the Proponent Group (PG) under the OMCTC, will supply ten (10) tons of fresh calamansi to KLT Fruits Inc. daily, to be processed into calamansi extract.

NAFA Manager Vic Ulayan shared his joy about this new partnership, as they will have a fixed buyer of their calamansi, thus avoiding spoilage.

“Noong ilang taon noon, nag-tagal ang tag-araw dito nang almost seven months, bumunga nang napakarami ang calamansi, hindi nabenta. Ang daming nasira noon dito. So humingi kami ng tulong sa provincial government noon at ang nai-rekomenda ni Governor noon eh ‘yung PRDP na paglagyan ng produkto na calamansi. For both parties maganda po dahil may potential tayo ngayon dito sa calamansi,” Ulayan said.

With this new partnership, KLT Fruits Inc. plans to expand the calamansi plantation area of NAFA into another 80,000 hectares in the next three years, with a projection of 25% annual growth in demand until 2030.

KLT Fruit Inc.’s Purchasing Manager Ferdinand Pio shared that this will not be possible without the assistance of the DA.

“We need to start 20,000 hectares this year, 20,000 of the original 80,000 hectares. We’re asking for DA’s help so they could assist farmers to propagate calamansi in this size of land. If DA could endorse a location and assist farmers, it’s what we really need,” Pio expressed.

Pio also promised to take care of NAFA as they enter into the new partnership.

“We’re in a contract now with NAFA. All the calamansi that will be processed in this facility will exclusively come from NAFA. If they do not meet the supply requirement, that’s the only time that we can acquire calamansi from another source. What we can commit on our side, aalagaan namin ang payment terms na napag-usapan namin. I will personally make sure na mabayaran sila on time para umikot yung revolving fund nila,” Pio added.

The OMCTC is a subproject under the DA-PRDP’s I-REAP Component that was completed in October 2017. With a total cost of PhP12 million, the subproject benefits 432 farmer members of the NAFA.

Also present in the ribbon cutting ceremony were representatives from KLT Fruits Inc.; representatives from the PLGU headed by Governor Humerlito Dolor; representatives from DA’s Regional Office headed by Regional Technical Director for Operations Engr. Elmer Ferry, Regional Technical Director for Research and Regulations Louella Rowena Lorenzana, and Agricultural Training Institute Director Pat Andrew Barrientos; and representatives from NAFA headed by Manager Vic Ulayan.  (Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

DA Secretary Dar leads the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Oriental Mindoro Calamansi Trading Centers’ partnership with KLT Fruits Inc.