The pronouncement of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to revive the Kadiwa Center will help encourage local government units to establish trading centers in communities, a regional official of the Department of Agriculture said on Monday.

Brenda Pepito, DA Eastern Visayas (DA-8) Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service Division chief, said the Kadiwa Centers are needed to bring down the prices of agricultural commodities amid the high prices of goods.

“Through trading centers, we are making crops produced by local farmers available in local markets. Prices in Kadiwa are lower by 10 to 20 percent since bringing the products won’t entail high transportation cost,” Pepito said.

The official said they have been advocating for the establishment of trading centers, but only a few areas in the region managed to set up one.

In his first State of the Nation Address, Marcos said his administration will also prioritize building a national network of farm-to-market roads to facilitate the transport of food products to the markets.

“Gagawa tayo ng mga paraan upang maramdaman ng mga mamimili ang pagluwag ng presyo ng mga produkto ng pagkain sa kayang halaga gaya ng muling pagbubuhay ng Kadiwa Centers (We will look for ways for the consumers to have affordable food prices such as through restoring Kadiwa Centers),” the President said.

The Department of Agriculture revived last year the Kadiwa program which was an original brainchild of former first lady Imelda Marcos.

Other programs related to the farming sector mentioned by the Chief Executive in his speech are the provision of technical and financial assistance to farmers, providing farm inputs, fuel subsidy for farmers, modern technology, expansion of farm areas, support for post-production, processing, and value-chain system.

Earlier, Marcos appointed himself as agriculture secretary to give more attention to the sector. (PNA)