In the TienDA Food Fair he launched today/July 28, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Pinol took the first step in achieving a long-cherished dream—that of unveiling a marketing initiative that would eventually eliminate cartels, middlemen and dicers and making available affordable food to Filipinos.
“This is just the beginning. We hope to see by the end of President Duterte’s term, food outlets in key urban centers of the country,” Pinol said at the opening of the pilot project at the Bureau of Plant Industry compound in San Andres.
“If we could bring produce directly to consumers, both the farmers and the consumers would benefit as it would bring prices of basic commodities down,” the DA chief said.
Fired up by the complete attendance of his undersecretaries and other department officials as well as the raucous crowd that took advantage of the low-cost produce, Pinol said it is time that cartels manipulating the prices of basic commodities such as rice, onion and garlic are dismantled.
“Panlaban natin ito sa mga negosyanteng ganid,” he said, referring to the cartels. “We have to dismantle them by producing more at the lowest possible prices.”
He emphasized what he calls the “need to focus on local marketing since we have 105 million mouths to feed”
He said, “Pilipinas muna; pakainin natin bago tayo mag-export,” Pinol said.
Offered at the initial TienDA food fair, which runs until Sunday, are various farm products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy produce such as eggs and chicken, basic commodities such as rice and sugar as well as fish and other seafood products.
Also present during the launching were Sen. Loren Legarda, a self-proclaimed weekend farmer and Manila Rep. Harry Angpin, who pledged support for the Agriculture Department’s advocacies.
He took note of various warehouses in Binondo full of onions and garlic imported from abroad, which ease out local farm produce in the market.
Legarda, meanwhile, endorsed the marketing initiative of Pinol, saying it would help a lot of Filipino farmers and fisher folk.
Before leading the cutting of the ceremonial ribbon, Pinol assured full support for the farmers and consumers, which he said is part of the DA’s paradigm shift.
“You can rest assure that we will not tolerate corruption in the Department. We will also make sure that every centavo of government money will be well spent,” he said.
“In fact I’ve already ordered that there will be no more meetings in hotels and resorts and channel the savings for greater food productivity,” he said. (DA-OSEC/photo by Alarico Nuestro)
