Friday, December 14, 2007 Suppliers urged to bring goods to food terminals
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging food suppliers to help in making basic goods affordable by bringing their produce directly to barangay food terminals (BFTs) and bagsakan centers.
DA regional executive director Roger Chio said his office through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (Amad) will coordinate closely with food suppliers in facilitating the transport and marketing of their goods to BFTs and bagsakan centers.
Chio said there, consumers can buy food staples such as rice, meat and vegetables at prices up to 12 percent cheaper than those sold in regular retail outlets. "Making affordably priced quality foodstuff accessible to low-income families' forms part of the hunger mitigation program of our government," he added.
Chio said DA is urging our farmers and other food producers to help in carrying out this centerpiece anti-hunger program to guarantee stable supply of affordable basic goods in the region.
The DA official assured food suppliers that the DA is ready to help them sell affordable priced goods while earning high profit margins for their produce through the removal of unnecessary trading layers and facilitating direct market linkages between producers and end-consumers.
Next week the DA will be launching two BFTs here in located in Barangay Tibungco and in Catalunan Pequeno both in Davao City.
Chio said the launching of the BFTs in these areas pushed through because of the strong support of barangay officials who are determined to provide their constituents access to affordable food.
DA's support to BFTs includes provision of freezers, stackable plastic crates and technical assistance such as training the BFT operation team. The barangay for its part will provide the land, building, and start up capital as its counterpart.
"This only goes to show that if there is a concerted effort on the part of the DA and our food suppliers, we can make basic food items affordable for our low-income consumers while raising incomes for our agricultural producers," Chio enthuses.
Under President Arroyo's Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP), the DA is targeting the establishment of 27 BFTs in Metro Manila this year, and 48 more in various regions across the country.
