THE Alter Trade Philippines Foundation for Food Sovereignty Inc. (ATPF) will hold its 3rd regular general assembly on Thursday, April 4 at the foundation’s principal office on Alijis Raod corner Carmenville, Mansilingan, Bacolod City with the theme, “Real Food, Real People, Real Movement.”
This year’s significant event will be graced by the foundation’s partner producers from Negros and partner consumers from Japan and Korea.
This momentous day marks another milestone in Alter Trade’s pursuit of people’s empowerment and rural development among small agrarian reform beneficiaries in the sugar industry and the marginal producers of balangon banana in the hinterlands in the island of Negros.
Also, the day will witness solidarity strengthening of the relations among producers and consumers under the People-to-People Trading and Fair Trade.
The 22 partner producer organizations of ATPF will be joined by Alter Trade Japan executives and the members of the board of the Green Coop of Japan, the biggest importer of the producers’ organic balangon banana.
Consumers’ delegation from Korea will be the PT Coop of Korea and its big consumers’ cooperatives Dure and Hansalim headed by their respective chairpersons. Partner consumer coop Hansalim from Korea topped Alter Trade’s mascobado export in the last couple of years.
The ATPF as social development organization facilitates various programs and projects among its partner producers through the support of its consumers here and most especially from abroad.
Its major challenge to date is diversification and technology development among its partners coupled with intensive education and capability building efforts towards non-dependence on single crop as the main source of livelihood.
The program will start at 9 a.m. with messages of solidarity from all its partners and presentation of the 2018 program and operations including the first quarter of 2019. This will be capped by the election of the members of the board. (PR)