DA links farmers to groups doing charitable works for more profit

MANILA – Throughout the quarantine period, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has helped farmer groups sell their produce to non-government organizations (NGOs) and other charitable institutions who want to distribute agricultural products to people in need.

“Our market matching team link NGOs to farmers. These NGOs give vegetables to their identified beneficiaries,” DA Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness Kristine Evangelista told Philippine News Agency on Friday.

Evangelista, who leads DA’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita project, said their private partners have been giving vegetables to different communities since the start of the pandemic.

Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita is a direct marketing program of the DA which is supported by various local government units, barangays and homeowners’ associations in Metro Manila and major urban centers, both benefiting thousands of farmers and consumers.

“DA is also a member of the Convergence Team composed of different government agencies, and every time the team extends help to communities here in National Capital Region, DA brings vegetables. The community members divide it among themselves,” she said adding the group will keep on pursuing this activity.

Meanwhile, as the country observes public participation in recovery efforts through the community pantries that are sprouting in various regions of the country, DA Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero, in a Thursday radio interview, said that donors can also purchase from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) Oplan Isda which also resembles the office’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita fisheries products.

Similarly, fish producers are linked to retailers who buy in bulk.

Currently, BFAR works with two cooperatives buying fisheries produce in bulk and will be distributed to sellers or donors who wish to distribute to community pantries, Caballero said.