Antique’s provincial government is eyeing to establish two cold storage facilities and two rice processing plants in the northern and southern parts of the province to boost the income of farmers and fisherfolk.

Provincial Planning and Development Officer Bienvenido Nallos Jr., in an interview on Wednesday, said the facilities could help preserve their produce and command higher prices.

“As of now, the fisherfolk cannot preserve their fish catch because there is not enough ice plant in the province,” he said.

He added that there are only two private ice plants in the province, which are in San Jose de Buenavista, and other fisherfolk still purchase ice blocks in Iloilo City to prevent their fish catch from getting spoiled.

Nallos said they are proposing to establish cold storage facilities at the San Jose de Buenavista Fish Port for the southern part and in the coastal municipality of Tibiao in the north.

Meanwhile, he added that Governor Paolo Everardo Javier has tasked his office to come up with a feasibility study on how the provincial government, through an economic enterprise, can assist farmers in availing of drying and milling facilities at a minimal cost.

“The rice processing facilities will complement the National Food Authority (NFA) so that more farmers can be assisted, especially during the peak of the harvest season,” he said.

Farmers often complain of the low buying price offered by middlemen, between PHP10 and PHP14 per kg., during the peak harvest season, usually in September for the wet season.

Nallos said they are looking to use the provincial government-owned lot for the rice processing plants.

They will also seek funding from the Department of Agriculture for the facilities, otherwise, they will consider using Antique’s share from the national wealth.

“We will know how much would be needed for the projects when we finish the feasibility study, which would be within the next three weeks,” Nallos said.

He said he hopes that the 16.4 percent growth of the agriculture, forestry, and fishing as a major industry in the province in 2024 would improve with the proposed interventions (PNA)