Vintar: Some 500 garlic farmers in Vintar, Ilocos Norte are among the first beneficiaries of a newly opened multi-purpose warehouse with a solar dryer in Barangay San Jose that is anticipated to enhance productivity and minimize post-harvest losses. In an interview, Vintar municipal agriculturist Maricel Serrano noted that “full utilization” of the warehouse is expected early next year, coinciding with the harvest season.

According to Philippines News Agency, the warehouse is projected to extend the viability of produce by at least 50 percent and reduce post-harvest losses by five percent. The PHP11.4 million warehouse project was financed through a collaboration between the World Bank, the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the local government unit of Vintar.

The project is a component of the Philippine Rural Development Project Scale-Up, a program aimed at modernizing, strengthening resilience, and orienting the country’s agriculture and fisheries sectors towards market demands. Serrano mentioned that other farm commodities from nearby barangays could also utilize the warehouse for a minimal fee.

By providing a structurally safe storage and dryer for crops such as garlic, rice, peanut, onion, and corn during harvest, the DA estimates that farmers will be able to increase their selling prices by 17.42 percent to 127.27 percent. The 128-square-meter warehouse, accompanied by a 432-square-meter solar dryer, was inaugurated and handed over to the local government unit of Vintar on October 15, 2025.

“The warehouse is beneficial to our farmers by ensuring quality storage of their produce. With the solar dryer, our farmers will no longer use road shoulders of highways to dry their produce, reducing post-harvest losses,” Vintar Mayor Richard Degala stated during the turnover ceremony.