The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) held an inception meeting for the project, “Development of Smart Food Value Chain Models for Selected Agricultural Products” on April 19, 2021. It is a component project under DOST-PCAARRD’s Smart Food Value Chain Program (SFVCP) that aims to map and assess the value/supply chains of coffee, carrot, milkfish, native chicken, and strawberry in selected regions and develop key intervention models.
The project plays a big role in the DOST’s SFVCP because it will produce guides towards the latter’s successful implementation. According to Project Leader Mar B. Cruz, the project will have two phases: 1) mapping and analyzing the value chain of selected commodities and 2) value chain development including designing interventions to address threats and tap opportunities.
The SFVCP was developed to integrate the various initiatives of the DOST in addressing food security in the country, specifically by utilizing smart and innovative technologies throughout the food value chain.
During the inception meeting, the need to look at different aspects in the value/supply chain was emphasized as well as the need to capacitate DOST regional offices as supply chain managers. This will allow them to continue working on the initiatives and interventions that will enhance food supply and value chains in their specific regions. Services included under the Supply chain management systems services included are: market linkage establishment, product flow, information and payment monitoring, logistics management, and inventory scheduling and management, among others.
The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) project team members - Prof. Cruz, Mr. Normito Zapata, and Ms. Hanna D. Miranda-Quibot will be handling the development of smart food value chain models for strawberry, milkfish and coffee, respectively. Also part of the team are Dr. Reynold Tan of UP Visayas who will handle native chicken and Dr. Hazel Soliven of the Central Mindanao University will handle carrots.
Foodlink Advocacy Cooperative’s General Manager Anton Simon S. Palo and Aboitiz Foundation Enterprise Development’s Program Manager Leilani M. Briosos McDonough served as external evaluators during the meeting.
The project team will work closely with the Technology Transfer and Promotion Division of PCAARRD and other DOST agencies in the development of guidelines for efficient operationalization of the value/supply chains. The available technologies, identified interventions, and the ongoing initiatives that have been setup for the development and enhancement of the smart food value chain program will also be considered.