Marcos orders strengthening links between food producers, consumers

MANILA. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Photo from Marcos' Facebook page)
MANILA. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Photo from Marcos' Facebook page)

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) to strengthen the link between food producers and consumers, as well as institutional buyers, and remove middle men in the picture to avoid higher prices of commodities.

In a statement, the DA, to which Marcos serves as the concurrent chief, said it has enhanced its market linkage initiative in order to assist farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) across the country.

It said under the initiative, which is spearheaded by the DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), about P2.589 million worth of onions have been sold by the FCAs to institutional buyers from September 2022 to January 24, 2023.

It consists of 3,478 kilograms of red onions worth P755,455 and 5,106.38 kilograms of white onions worth P1.833 million.

The DA also awarded Kadiwa trucks and vans to help the FCAs with their hauling and delivery to markets and big buyers.

Farmers are also provided with assistance and training in farm clustering and consolidation, where market-driven production and focus on supplying institutional buyers are applied to help farmers earn better with higher volume.

“Last year, President Marcos announced he is determined to transform the Kadiwa project into a national program, in collaboration with the local government units (LGUs), to provide the public access to more affordable and high-quality merchandise and, at the same time, provide a market to local farmers, fishermen and small business enterprises,” the DA said.

Issues on the soaring prices of onions have been hounding the country since December of 2022 after its cost increased to more than P700 per kilo allegedly due to low supply.

The DA has ordered the importation of 21 metric tons of red and white onions to arrest the increase of its price. (SunStar Philippines)

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