Friday, April 20, 2007 MinBC to hold reverse trade fair in food gab By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) has designed a specific, doable, and measurable intervention, particularly the staging of a reverse trade fair in the upcoming Mindanao Food Congress (MFC) slated on July 18 and 19.
Sebastian Angliongto, MinBC chair and founding chair of the MFC, said the congress would focus more on market maturity to establish a strong middle class in Mindanao.
The 6th MFC was formally launched Thursday at the Mindanao Economic and Development Council (Medco) office.
"The business matching component of the congress will be staged through the market link. A reverse trade fair will be done which will gather institutional buyers of various agricultural commodities to assist our farmers," Angliongto said, adding that the reverse trade fair will also enable the small farmers to access market.
He said through this concept of matching buyers and sellers, they hope to draw the farmers closer to the markets.
Angliongto further said that with this year's theme: "Enhancing Food Productivity and Profitability in Mindanao," MFC is committed to take this annual trade promotion to even higher grounds.
In a separate interview, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assistant regional director Marizon Loreto said DTI will be the one responsible for the market matching activity.
"The reverse trade fair is very effective because this will serve as a linkage between the institutional buyers or the big companies and the growers or the farmers. Direct hit ito sa mga farmers," Loreto told Sun.Star.
Loreto said the role of the DTI is to contact the big companies, such as Dole and Lapanday, and determine their needs.
"We write these companies, we ask for their needs and we help in the indication of those needs," she said, adding that the reverse trade fair will surely be an add-on to the success of the MFC.
