Marcos assures steady supply of food products

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Wednesday assured the steady supply of low-cost food supplies being sold at so-called Kadiwa outlets, according to the presidential palace.

“We are going to ensure that we will continue to have a good supply and that we won’t have to worry about running out of products,” the president, who also heads the Department of Agriculture (DA), said in Filipino during the launch of a Kadiwa branch in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

The Agriculture department’s Kadiwa program allows farmers and small entrepreneurs to sell products such as rice, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables at low prices through pop-up stores or online platforms.

The stores were rolled out in various provinces at the height of the coronavirus pandemic to help farmers sell their products amid lockdowns.

Total sales of the more than 500 Kadiwa branches have reached P415 million, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said more than a million families and 26,000 farmers and fishermen have benefited from the program.

“Many of them (small businesses) have depleted their savings and were forced to close shop,” Mr. Marcos said. “This is why we are giving our micro, small, and medium enterprises the opportunity to have their own place and market where they can sell their products.”

The Agriculture department in February said it would set up permanent Kadiwa stores in Metro Manila’s public markets to give more farmers a chance to sell their products directly to consumers.

“One of the things we’re looking at is having accredited Kadiwa retailers inside the market itself for our countrymen to have access to cheaper agricultural commodities — especially now that we have identified cooperatives that are ready to supply the market,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Y. Evangelista told reporters on Feb. 10. — John Victor D. Ordoñez