A DIRECT-marketing program has allowed more than 5,000 farmers to bypass middlemen as well as checkpoints during the enhanced community quarantine that locked down Luzon to contain coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the direct-marketing program, known as Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita, has engaged thousands of Benguet farmers who would have otherwise been shut out of the key Metro Manila market due to movement restrictions.
“The Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center reported a total of 5,568 farmers who directly benefited from the Kadiwa orders,” Mr. Dar said.
The DA has been seeking to maintain the flow of food to locked-down communities by issuing checkpoint passes to accredited truckers, setting up Kadiwa markets in various locations, and tapping its own logistics assets.
According to Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness and Marketing Kristine Y. Evangelista, the Kadiwa program has three channels for bringing food to consumers — the Kadiwa on Wheels mobile market, the Kadiwa Online service, as well as the more traditional physical markets, known as Kadiwa Retail.
The DA’s logistics and transport system is known as Kadiwa Express.
“We are happy that our local chief executives and private sector are heeding our call and taking advantage of reasonably-priced agri-fishery products sold in Kadiwa outlets,” Mr. Dar said.
Around 80 barangays and cities in the National Capital Region and surrounding provinces have hosted Kadiwa markets. The participating local governments include Cainta, Rizal, Caloocan, Manila, Pasig, Navotas, Taguig, Pasay, Mandaluyong, and Pateros. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
