The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued a special order (SO) to create a working team to assess the operations of the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Signed on May 23 by Domingo Panganiban, DA senior undersecretary, SO 623 is related to the planned upgrade of the cooperative operating the facility into a corporation.
The order detailed that the team will assess the operations of BAPTC including its financial performance, human resources, facility operation and maintenance, among others.
The SO also mandated the assessment team to come up with recommendations for action of the DA and the BAPTC Project Steering Board as well as to produce a final report including action, work and financial plans for approval.
In 2021, BAPTC, the country’s biggest vegetable trading facility, was considered to be transformed into a corporation.
BAPTC first started trading operations in July 2015 and was funded by the DA with a P700 million budget.
The DA earlier said the transformation will optimize the facility’s potentials and profitability through the provision of more cost-efficient services and modern facilities to farmers, traders and other stakeholders.
The agency added that BAPTC’s transformation into a corporation will also drive modernization and industrialization of the agriculture industry in the Cordillera region.
Former DA Secretary William Dar said the current operation of BAPTC is constrained by bureaucratic government system which hinders its growth, sustainability and profitability.
“With a corporate setup, stakeholders will be able to optimize their benefits, improve the marketability of Cordillera vegetables and provide our farmers, buyers and traders reasonable profit for their produce. Further, it could create subsidiaries to engage in other revenue-generating enterprises,” Dar had said.
