A year after its official groundbreaking, the first-ever Monolithic Storage Facility in the region, constructed in the Municipality of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur has finally been turned over by the Department of Agriculture – Caraga to the LGU of San Francisco on March 11.

The 20 million pesos Monolithic Dome Cold Storage and Packing Facility resembles a big refrigerator that helps in keeping the freshness of the perishable goods such as vegetables and fruits by slowing down the deterioration process which prolongs its shelf life for several weeks and thus decreasing losses.

Municipality of San Francisco Mayor Hon. Solomon T. Rufila expressed that the facility will really help the farmers especially when it comes to product preservation.

“This Monolithic Dome Storage is very useful for our farmers because they can now preserve their products, for example when the buying price is low they can just store it here and wait when the price is advantageous for the farmers,” he said.

Regional Technical Director for Operations Rebecca R. Atega emphasized that the facility will serve as a challenge for the high-value crops farmers to plant more since the facility was built in a way that can withstand different climate conditions.

“This will serve as a drive for our farmers to plant vegetables and fruits. That we no longer fear wastage because we now have a storage facility. In terms of its resiliency to different climate conditions, the dome is airtight, super-insulated, and can offer absolute protection against calamities due to its disaster-resistant structure,” Atega said.

Mayor Rufila also said that in order to maximize the use of the facility, a benchmarking activity will be done to regions with an existing monolithic dome.

“Training is necessary so we will conduct a field visitation to different sites. Through that, we can duplicate their activities, quality control techniques, and different technologies applied to their dome,” he said.

In terms of its sustainability, Atega said that coming up with a sustainability plan can maximize the facility for the farmers not only in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur but the neighboring local government units.

“We have to come up with a sustainability plan so that we can really maximize this facility for the benefit of our farmers not only San Francisco farmers but other areas because we are now in a clustering approach. We want to have the volume and we want to have the quality,” she added.

The facility is strategically located in the urban area barangay of San Francisco, Mayor Rufila said that the facility is open to neighboring provinces as well. “Our neighboring LGUs are welcome especially those who have products that can be preserved. So, they are very welcome since this is the first Monolithic Dome facility situated in Caraga,” he added.

The intervention is funded under the Bayanihan II or Bayanihan to Recover as One Act that aims to establish a resilient food system that leads to food accessibility and availability amid the pandemic. (Kent Warren H. Fugoso, DA-13 RAFIS)