The Department of Agriculture (DA) now helps farmer groups by linking them up with charity groups and other non-government organizations (NGOs) performing charitable work to which they sell their produce for distribution to needy people.
DA Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness Kristine Evangelista said they now have a “market matching team” which links farmer groups to NGOs and related groups which give vegetables to their identified beneficiaries.
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. The tie-up, she said benefit both the 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 explained.
DA Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero, also said in a recent radio interview, that donors can also purchase from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) Oplan Isda which also resembles the agency’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita. Similarly, fish producers are linked to retailers who buy in bulk.
Currently, BFAR works with two cooperatives buying fisheries produce in bulk and distributing them to sellers or donors who wish to distribute to community pantries, Caballero said.