The government is moving to address one of the Cordillera’s most persistent agricultural problems as the Department of Agriculture (DA) begins constructing seven cold-storage facilities across the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to help prevent vegetables and other perishable crops from going to waste.
The development was announced on August 18, 2026, as Malacañang responded to reports of farmers in Benguet suffering losses after heavy rains and landslides disrupted the movement of agricultural products.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, the seven facilities are intended to help farmers preserve their harvest, particularly during the rainy season when road disruptions can prevent traders and buyers from reaching vegetable trading posts.
Each facility will use a 44-foot container-type cold-storage unit, providing farmers with additional space to temporarily keep their produce while transportation and market conditions recover.
Rain, Landslides Disrupt Benguet Vegetable Trade
The problem goes beyond farm production.
The DA said bad weather has triggered landslides and made it difficult for traders and buyers to reach trading posts, creating a bottleneck for highly perishable vegetables.
For farmers, delays can quickly translate into spoilage, lower selling prices and outright losses because vegetables cannot simply remain in the field or at trading posts indefinitely.
In response, the DA-CAR has also been helping move vegetables from the Cordillera toward markets in Pampanga, Metro Manila and Cavite.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said roughly 1.2 million worth of vegetables had been sold during the past week, while the DA continued monitoring trading posts and assessing where additional assistance was needed. The official statement did not specify the unit behind the “1.2 million” figure, so it should not be interpreted as 1.2 million kilograms without further clarification.
The Bigger Problem: Cold Chain and Post-Harvest Losses
The current crisis is part of a much larger weakness in the Philippines’ agricultural supply chain.
In January 2024, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA estimated that about 30 percent of the country’s agricultural produce, particularly vegetables, could be lost because of poor logistics.
Laurel also acknowledged at the time that there was no precise nationwide data quantifying the total losses, saying the 30-percent estimate was based on his experience in the cold-chain logistics sector.
The DA has repeatedly identified cold storage, post-harvest facilities and improved transportation as critical investments for reducing agricultural losses.
Earlier DA estimates also pointed to significant losses during the transport of vegetables from Benguet to Metro Manila, underscoring how logistics costs and spoilage can eventually affect both farmers and consumers.
CAR’s Cold-Storage Push Started Before the Current Crisis
The seven facilities announced this week are not an isolated response.
DA-CAR had previously identified cold storage as one of its strategic interventions for the region’s high-value vegetable industry.
In 2025, the agency inspected proposed sites in Benguet for solar-powered modular cold-storage facilities, including locations associated with the Taloy Farmers’ Cooperative and the Provincial Government of Benguet in La Trinidad.
The DA said these facilities were intended to extend the shelf life of produce, improve consolidation and make it easier to transport vegetables to institutional markets outside the Cordillera.
DA-CAR has also been pursuing other logistics projects. Its plans included tramlines in highland communities to reduce transport time and costs for farmers moving vegetables from production areas to markets.
The Bigger Plan: A Vegetable Processing Facility in La Trinidad
Cold storage may only be the first step.
The DA is proposing, as part of the 2027 national budget, a vegetable processing facility on a 1.5-hectare property in La Trinidad, Benguet.
The proposed facility would allow vegetables to be processed into higher-value products with longer shelf lives, potentially giving farmers another option when fresh-market demand is weak.
That matters because cold storage can delay spoilage—but processing can potentially transform surplus produce into products that can be sold over a much longer period.
The Palace said the proposed processing facility is intended to provide higher value and longer shelf life for Cordillera vegetables.
A National Push Toward Modern Food Logistics
The government’s approach also fits into a broader national effort to strengthen the country’s food logistics system.
In March 2026, the DA opened the Bicol Mega Cold Storage Warehouse, a P500-million project designed to strengthen food security and address the lack of reliable cold-chain infrastructure. The facility has multiple refrigerated warehouses and is part of the DA’s wider cold-storage expansion program.
In July, the DA also announced that the state-run Food Terminal Inc. was accelerating the development of mega food hubs and regional food terminals designed to connect production areas with markets while reducing logistics costs and post-harvest losses.
The direction is clear: the government is trying to move Philippine agriculture away from a system where farmers are heavily dependent on immediate sales after harvest.
But Cold Storage Alone Won’t Solve the Problem
The seven new facilities could give Benguet farmers an important buffer during periods of heavy rain, road closures and weak market access.
But cold storage is only one part of the equation.
Farmers still need reliable roads, transport, market linkages, processing facilities, accurate production planning and enough buyers to absorb harvests.
That is especially important in the Cordillera, where high-value vegetables are produced in mountainous areas and must travel through difficult terrain before reaching major consumer markets.
The DA’s own earlier plans emphasized a combination of post-harvest facilities, cold storage, transportation infrastructure and market access, rather than relying on a single intervention.
For Benguet farmers, the immediate question is whether the new cold-storage facilities can arrive quickly enough—and with enough capacity—to prevent the next wave of vegetables from becoming another costly surplus.
The longer-term test will be even bigger: whether the proposed La Trinidad processing hub and broader logistics investments can turn the Cordillera’s vegetable surplus from a recurring problem into a more stable source of farmer income.
For now, seven cold-storage facilities are on the way. But the real game-changer may be what comes after them.
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