USAID's Growth with Equity In Mindanao (GEM) Program is implementing a "vegetable consolidation initiative" aimed at assisting lettuce growers in Bukidnon. The initiative addresses a key problem faced by the growers when marketing their product - getting their shipments large enough to bring transport costs down. Growers were encouraged to combine their harvest so that they could fill a 20-foot reefer van to its 3.3 metric tons capacity. Besides helping to preserve the lettuce, transporting the vegetables by reefer van costs only some Php11 (US$.22) per kilo, as compared to the Php20 (US$.40) per kilo airfreight charges the growers have been paying. Given the volumes being shipped, this translates to annual savings of more than Php1 million (US$20,000).

GEM introduced the farmers to improved post harvest practices that would allow their produce to meet the requirements of big institutional buyers. One particularly important new post harvest practice was the use of nestable plastic crates to protect the produce. As a result of reduced product damage and lower transport costs, Bukidnon growers are now shipping tons of iceberg lettuce and other temperate vegetables to Manila every month.

The success of the improved post-harvest system in Bukidnon has encouraged other growers to investigate the benefits of consolidation, thereby creating new opportunities for productive, economic agriculture and expanding the temperate vegetable industry in Northern Mindanao.

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