STA. BARBARA –A P20 million post-harvest facility for corn is set to be put up this year in barangay Leet here, courtesy of the Department of Agriculture.

Albertini de Guzman, municipal administrator of Sta. Barbara, said this was why Mayor Reynaldo Velasco and he, including Provincial Agriculturist Jose Almendares, went out Mindanao last week upon the invitation of the DA.

De Guzman said they visited corn post-harvest facilities, particularly in the province of North Cotabato, Saranggani and South Cotabato, set to be duplicated in Sta. Barbara town.

The post-harvest facility, which will include a warehouse, will be put up in barangay Let, a self-sufficient agrarian reform community, which is the center of yellow corn production in the whole town.

De Guzman said it is in barangay Leet, where at least 600 hectares of land are devoted purely on yellow corn production.
Sta. Barbara was chosen as site of the project because it si the biggest producer of the yellow corn throughout the province of Pangasinan and the entire Region I.

Velasco sought the project from Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap when he came to Pangasinan in March to grace the farmers “Agriculture Exposition in Carmen, Rosales.

The proposed post-harvest facility, De Guzman said, will also serve as trading center for yellow corn, a product very much in demand by manufacturers of feeds for poultry and animals.