Laguna Governor Teresita “Ningning” S. Lazaro and Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) Executive Director Engr. Ricardo L. Cachuela signed the Memorandum of Agreement between the BPRE and the Laguna Provincial Government on the project “Collaborative Project on Postharvest Database and Master Planning for Laguna.”

     The MOA was signed yesterday at the Field Agricultural Extension Services (FAES) Multi-Pupose Hall, FAES Demo Farm in Brgy. Callios, Sta. Cruz, Laguna. The project’s primary purpose is to apply a bottom-up, highly participatory and comprehensive postharvest development planning process and come-up with a provincial postharvest master plan.

     The project is in consonant with the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 (AFMA) that envisions the modernization of the agriculture and fishery sectors to attain food security, self-sufficiency and global competitiveness. One of the major concerns of AFMA is the development of the post-harvest industry with the ultimate goal of reducing the huge losses being incurred in the post-harvest period. The “Postharvest Data Base and Master Planning” project of BPRE aims to establish provincial postharvest development plan and in effect, a regional postharvest development plan which is necessary for the formulation of national postharvest development plan.

     According to the MOA, the Laguna Provincial Government is the principal beneficiary of the project and has the administrative and financial capability to effectively implement components of the said project.

     Gov. Lazaro vowed for the Provincial Government’s utmost cooperation for the project and expresses her gratitude to BPRE that is under the Department of Agriculture. “In behalf of my co-workers in the Provincial Government, we are more than willing and thankful to collaborate with the BPRE in establishing the provincial development plan,” Gov. Lazaro said in an interview. # (PIO-Laguna)