THE 12-year effort for social development in Bulacan finally reached its peak with the construction of the North Food Exchange in Balagtas.

Dubbed as the Divisoria of the North, the flagship project of former Bulacan governor Josie dela Cruz said the North Food Exchange aims to bring farmers and fisherfolks closer to the market as possible.

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More than just being a "bagsakan center," it eliminates the need for middlemen, allowing products to be sold at the lowest possible price.

“We had to open their minds so that they won't just be planting and planting. They need to have a strategy in which they can be the one directly selling their products,” Dela Cruz said in the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo.

Various forums and trainings were conducted to educate the stakeholders at the grassroots level about the business side of agriculture.

“Instead of them selling their land, which has not been completely given to them under the Agrarian Reform Program, we have been teaching them profitability more than productivity,” Dela Cruz said.

Target products to be sold include all kinds of agricultural products such as fish, meat, vegetables and organically grown rice.

It took an accumulative 12 years for them to change the mindset of the farmers.

But according to Dela Cruz, 33 percent of the farmers who used to plant rice have now been convinced to plant high value commercial crops (HVCC) instead.

Former Bulacan governor Josie dela Cruz champions grassroots economy in Bulacan. (Sunnex/Angela Casauay)

“Before they were only planting rice. You know, when we talk about agriculture, it's always rice. Rice is a political commodity in this country. The land in Bulacan is already expensive for rice,” she said.

“That's why we're saying let's convert to HVCC and if it's rice, organically grown rice so that it will have its own market niche,” she added.

The first phase - the completion of a five-hectare infrastructure within the 32 hectare property - was started four months ago and is targeted to be finished during the first quarter of 2010.

The government only owns 30 percent of the property with the remaining 70 percent owned by the private sector.

“This is a very good example of the good government-private sector relationship in the province of Bulacan,” Dela Cruz said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo allocated P380 million to the government of Bulacan for the construction of an interchange that will open up a part of the North Luzon Expressway towards Balagtas, Bulacan.

Construction of the bridge going to the location is ongoing.

Construction of all the other infrastructures meanwhile is being handled by a private company, according to Dela Cruz.

Part of the delay of the construction is that Dela Cruz, along with the team behind the project, had to choose the best possible location - which they found in Balagtas.

The chose Balagtas because it is the spot where the Mac Arthur Highway, roads from Trinidad, Cagayan Valley and all other places in the North merged, making it accessible to Northern Luzon.

The North Food Exchange is also 800 meters away from the North Rail, that's why they are also considering building a track and a station in the vicinity.

The structure is the first of its kind in the country. Originally, President Arroyo envisioned four of those all over the country - two in Luzon, one in Visayan, and one in Mindanao.

"But only Luzon materialized because we did not stop working for it," she said.

Dela Cruz is running for re-election while her brother incumbent Governor Jonjon Mendoza will run for the Congress. (Angela Casauay/Sunnex)