Republic of the Philippines

University of Southeastern Philippines

College of Agriculture and Related Sciences
Tagum – Mabini Campus

A NARRATIVE REPORT ON STUDENTS’

TAGUM BAGSAKAN CENTER VISIT

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Course APE 134 – PROCESSING, HANDLING AND STORAGE OF
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 2

Submitted to: ENGR. BEN-HUR RAFOSALA,PhD

Submitted by: JENNY T. VILLANUEVA

ARNOLD REY V. PACHEO
YONIEL JAY Y. NAVARRO
JOHN PAUL F. LANTICSE
DREXAND PEROCHO
IVAN KIM C. BORROMEO
JONALD LLEMIT
(BSAE-5E)

DECEMBER 2017
 INTRODUCTION

One of the strategies devised by the Philippine government to help Filipino farmers as

well as consumers deal with price hike; also alleviating food insufficiency and hunger is the

opening of BAGSAKAN CENTERS. As cited in the study of Cajucom and Pacubas (2017), the

bagsakan centers have been drawn from the "Huwarang Palengke" concept. They have been

put up to ensure the sufficient supply and stable prices of goods, by slashing the number of

trade layers that pad the cost of transporting products from the farm gate to their final

distribution points. Often, farm products go through several middlemen before reaching wet

markets, resulting in higher prices of agricultural food products. At bagsakan centers, farmers

or farmers‘cooperatives market their produce directly to consumers at 10% to 12% lower than

usual retail prices. Thus, with bagsakan centers, layers in marketing chain are minimized, in

which retailers can directly buy the commodity through this center. In this kind of supply chain,

the prices of food products are lower while at the same time, the farmers enjoy more revenue
compared to the usual practice of selling to several middlemen. In view of post-harvest

handling, this also implies a deduction of percentage of commodity loss due to less

transportation handling.

TAGUM BAGSAKAN CENTER is one of the five Bagsakan Centers put up by the

Department of Agriculture in the Davao Region. The Vegetable Industry Council of Southern

Mindanao (VICSW) is in charge in the monitoring of these bagsakan centers. Tagum bagsakan

center is the distribution area for vegetable and fruit producers near the City. Most of the

producing areas have a temperate climate and can produce vegetables similar to those grown

in Baguio like Maragusan of Compostela Valley, Digos City, Bukidnon, Talaingod.Tagum

bagsakan center is an inspiration to improve the vegetable supply chain in the Davao Region.

“Students in Immediate Observation upon Arrival at Tagum

Bagsakan Center”

In relevance to that, the APE 134 (PROCESSING, HANDLING AND STORAGE OF AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTS 2) class of thirty 5th year students arrived at Tagum Bagsakan Center at 11: 30 pm on

Friday, December 8, 2017 to conduct interviews and to observe the state of things at said area.

The duration of the activity lasted for four hours with the supervision of the course professor.
 OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION

In this report, the observers are only limited to the discussion of post-harvest handling

systems related to transportation (loading and unloading, transportation facilities), packaging

(during transportation) and storage system (after unloading) as observed in the bagsakan

center.

START

Retailer informs the

cooperative/wholesaler when
products are nearly out of stock

Availability of order They will contact farmers

will be checked by the for the needed
cooperative/wholesal commodities
er

The cooperative/wholesaler will Cooperative/wholesaler

deliver the product to the will pick up their needed
Bagsakan center at a time commodities at the
depending on the transportation production site
distance

END

Figure 1. Setup Flow of Delivery at Tagum Bagsakan Center

 According to the guard on duty, the schedule of delivering goods at the Bagsakan Center

is flexible and based only on the preference of the Retailer. The Retailer will only contact the

Cooperative representative/wholesaler once they have fewer stocks and it will be immediately

delivered. If ever the said product is not available, the cooperative will contact the farmers to

deliver the product they needed. The time of arrival of the deliveries will depend on the

distance from the location of the Bagsakan Center and wholesaler/production area. Figure 1

shows the setup flow of delivery at the center.

“Arrival of the Truck Containing Sacks of Broccoli and

Carrots”

Table 1 shows the information provided by the wholesalers. Identities of some

wholesalers are not disclosed for confidentiality as per their preferences. In information

gathered from the interviews, the wholesaler usually picks up his commodities at different farm

areas. Since the point of destination is far, the harvest time typically takes place during 11:00 in

the morning in order to preserve freshness or its quality at the arrival time (regularly 12:00 am-

3:00 am) at the center. Table 2 shows further details on the specific stocks that arrived on that

day at the center. As for the truckload of karlang from Maragusan, its direct drop area is at

Davao but the wholesalers passed by Tagum to check on willing buyers.

Table 1.

Point of Estimated
Name of
origin of Travel- arrival Commodity Distance Travelled
wholesaler
product time

12:34 am –
---- Maragusan Karlang 70.2 km
12:40 am

Jayvee 1:22 am – 1:30 Broccoli

Calinan 86.4 km
and Clair am Carrots

2:20 am – 2:31
---- Mati Spring onion 119 km
am

Tomato, Spring
Inday 2:45am - 3:30 Onion, Cabbage,
Bangkerohan 55.1 km
Magalo am Carrots, Potato,
Chinese Peachy

Figure 2. Distance Travelled From Maragusan to Tagum Bagsakan Center to Ask for Karlang
Buyers. (Courtesy: GoogleMap.com)
Figure 3. Distance Travelled by the Wholesalers Jayvee and Claire to Deliver Broccoli and Carrots
to Tagum Bagsakan Center. (Courtesy: GoogleMap.com)
 Figure 4. Distance Travelled From
Bangkerohan to Tagum Bagsakan
Center by Wholesaler/Retailer Inday
Magalo to Deliver Different
Commodities. (Courtesy:
GoogleMap.com)

Figure 5. Distance From Mati to

Tagum Bagsakan Center To Deliver
Spring Onions to Retailers. (Courtesy:
GoogleMap.com)

Table 2.
Transportation System
Name of Storage
Commodity Quantity Means of Transportation Packaging
wholesaler system
loading/unloading facilities
Not unloaded from
---- Karlang 40 sacks Elf Truck Sacks
the truck
60 Vacuum
Spring Vacuum
---- Cellophane (7 Manual
Onion Cellophane
kg/cellophane)
Jayvee
Broccoli 3 sacks Sacks
and Clair Stored
Manual Elf Truck
Clan’s at the
Carrots 4 sacks Sacks
Store typical
Wooden storage
Box matted areas
20 boxes (25
Tomato with provided
kg/box)
banana by each
bark retailer’s
Inday Spring 2 bags Cellophane stalls
Manual Bonggo Truck
Magalo Onions (7 kg/bag) Bags
Cabbage 2 sacks Sacks
Carrots 10 sacks Sacks
Potato 5 sacks Sacks
Chinese
2 sacks Sacks
Peachy
 “Wooden Box of Tomatoes Matted With Banana Bark For
Packaging”

In every postharvest operation, substantial losses are incurred ranging from a slight loss

of quality to spoilage. Losses in fruits and vegetables are due to physical damage during

handling and transport, physiological decay, water loss, or sometimes simply because there is a

surplus in the marketplace and no buyers can be found, among others. Distance to the final

markets plays a critical role in the distribution and marketing of fruits and vegetables. Poor

transport facilities causes delay in bringing the produce to markets resulting to high postharvest

losses quantitatively and qualitatively, which in turn result in low price of produce.

Another major problem faced by fruits and vegetable growers in the region is the

unavailability of postharvest facilities such as refrigerated van and cold storage facilities. In

addition, there is lack of information on harvesting machine, proper techniques and packaging

facilities. With regards to marketing, there is no trading post or warehouse existing in the

region because of lack of government support and weak coordination among farmers. All these

problems result to low income of farmers.

 “Cleaning of Just Delivered Carrots “

“Unloading of Commodities Piled on Top of One Another”

As per observation, the suppliers have different commodities at hand without proper

transportation facility. The commodities were piled and stacked regardless of its type. Also

numerous mal- and mis-handling activities were observed during packaging and
loading/unloading. Great mechanical damages were apparent on the commodities that

signified a large percentage of loss. After distribution, some retailers had simultaneously

cleaned (by soaking, washing, scrubbing it in a large basin with either water only or with

downy/chlorine concentration) and sorted (in classes according to its quality) the delivered

goods. Cleaning of tuber crops were done by soaking in water and manual brushing. After that,

goods were placed in large rubberized basin to let dry by draining and natural air drying.

To control the operations at bagsakan center, Tagum City Government had established

implementations. “Buhos” system limits the distributors and deliveries in using the bagsakan

area to unload goods until 5:00 am. However, deliveries made before 5:00 am with unfinished

good disposal shall be given until 6:00 am to clear the area. This is in consideration to the stall

owners who would be opening their stores by then. Wholesalers or suppliers will not be

allowed to repack their goods upon reaching the bagsakan area and all items must be

transferred directly to waiting comboys/karitons. Moreover, all distributors must secure special

business permits and will be issued identification cards while wholesalers/suppliers must secure

regular business permits. NO ID, NO DELIVERY policy will be strictly enforced.

“Wholesalers/suppliers must pay corresponding arrival/delivery fee or “curtais” upon entry at

the bagsakan areas in the city market. When the city government implemented a one-month

experimental period for the bagsakan scheme, 90 percent of stall holders and consumers gave a

favorable response, leading to the implementation of the ordinance.

 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Tagum City government had designated common “bagsakan” areas for loading and

unloading goods at the public market to avoid traffic jams. The city council recently passed

Ordinance 022, Series of 2012, which designated the Tagum Public Market Zone where

deliveries are limited from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It can be concluded that proper handling of

commodities are not observed at Tagum bagsakan center. Sacks, boxes, and loads of durables

and perishable products are injured in the process and suppliers do not pay it much attention.

Meanwhile, it can be recommended that delivery personnel be oriented with proper

handling of commodities to avoid mechanical damages or injuries which is really a primary

cause of quality loss of the delivered farm products. Aside from that, it would be beneficial if

precoolers or proper storage facilities are provided at the center to keep products safe and

fresh. Proper conveyor equipment would also be a lot helpful in keeping the goods high quality.

It is also recommended that bagsakan center be encouraged to practice proper waste disposal

and be provided with proper garbage bins. The bagsakan center area should be kept clean and

suppliers should not block the driveways of nearby houses and business establishments at any

time of the day.

 DOCUMENTATION

“Group Members (Left) and the APE 124 Class at Tagum Bagsakan Center”

“Other more photos taken during the Bagsakan Center Visit”