Anthony Dizon, President of the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines, recommended investing in and supporting rural agriculture infrastructure in a recent webinar discussing the future of the Philippines’ cold chain last week.
Dizon offered a number of suggestions to address the industry’s current challenges including:
- Providing support for the “Balik Probinsya” program — a government initiative that aims to ease congestion in the capital city of Manila by encouraging residents to return to rural areas.
- Optimizing productivity of agricultural land.
- Propagating the use of mid-level urban farming technologies.
- Providing developmental financing access to private sector micro-enterprises.
- Restructuring agricultural communities into organized cooperatives to be able to qualify for supplying to the big businesses.
- Rationalizing the operation of the existing food supply chain facilities.
- Constructing additional infrastructure to support food security.
In addition, Dizon discussed the current situation in the Philippines regarding the recovery in food demand, the pressure on the warehousing and transport sectors, the adjustment in the production cycle, and the consumer budget realignment and prioritization on spending.
The webinar, titled “Supply Chain Trends, Resiliency & Recovery for the New Future” was held on June 23. It centered on the challenges and opportunities in the Philippine cold chain industry with new trends due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was organized by AEB, a supply chain logistics software provider, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions, which provides supply chain management technology, and Prime Sales, a Philippines based provider of logistics and supply chain solutions.
National Project Leader
Global Partnership for Food Cold Chain in the Philippines Project