ICE PLANT WITH COLD STORAGE BENEFITS FISHERFOLKS IN BATAAN
Mariveles, BATAAN – The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) has provided an intervention that aims to produce the volume requirements of block ice for the fisherfolks likewise ensuring the supply of smoked and dried sardines all year round through the Establishment of Ice Plant with Cold Storage, here.
According to Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO 3) Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Head June H. Lacasandile it was among the objectives of the subproject is to increase the fisherfolks’ income by 32% per operation and augment the profit of fish processors per operation.
Results from Rapid Appraisal of Emerging Benefits (RAEB) showed that from October 2018 – August 2019 that fisherfolks here has now enjoy the benefits of 24-hour operation of the facility by the availability of the block ice to maintain the freshness of fishes and accessible cold storage for fish processor to store their dried sardines.
They claim that the enterprise was a big advantage for their fishing operations similarly it has decreased their expense in terms of transportation which saved a lot of time in obtaining ice.
In a focus group discussion conducted during the recent RAEB activity, it was learned that fisherfolks can save at least P150 per day for transportation considering the one-kilometer distance of the cold storage.
Other outcome identified during the activity is the provision of employment to locality that is open to vulnerable groups where the cooperative accepts persons with disability (PWD) as workers.
RAEB serves as an intermediate evaluation activity that delivers feedback to the PRDP Management whether the desired outcomes and overall development objective of the project are likely or unlikely to be achieved given the situations and lessons emerging from the completed subproject.
The five-day project assessment was spearheaded by the National Project Coordination Office (NPCO), together with the Project Support Office (PSO) and the RPCO 3 held on October 7-11, 2019. (Ma. Reina Len Luna, RPCO3 InfoACE)
