A farmers’ cooperative on Wednesday expressed hope that the administration under President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will continue the “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and start assigning fixed locations for its stores.

“For us who saw it, we can say it is a good program that can be pursued and continued because it can help the farmers,” Liby Ngaseo of the Bosigan Multipurpose Cooperative based in Mankayan Benguet said in Ilocano in a phone interview.

He said the only challenge they encountered with the program is its sustainability since the location of its stores changes regularly preventing patrons from returning to buy more supplies.

“It would be best if fixed locations will be provided where buyers can regularly go and buy their supplies because of the schedule changes so often, the buyers will not rely on it and will have to settle with other marketing areas where they can regularly buy their produce,” he said.

Ngaseo said the program has taught them “crop programming,” a system being pushed by the Department of Agriculture and the provincial government of Benguet to avoid an oversupply of certain commodities.

It also addresses the soil fertility problem wherein farms regularly producing the same commodity leads to low-quality soil that also affects the production.

“We have to assign specific commodities to specific farmers to that we can sustain the needs of the program where we have to regularly provide the supply,” he said.

Ngaseo said the program helps farmers not only with marketing but also with transporting their produce.

Dr. Cameron Odsey, Regional Director of the DA in the Cordillera, said the concept of the Kadiwa was popularized during the time of Bongbong’s father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., when centers were established to sell agricultural products at low cost.

“Pwedeng bumili ang mga mamamayan doon ng supply nila at limited quantity para makabili at marami ang maka-avail ng murang presyo (The people can buy their supplies there at minimal quantity so that more people would also be able to buy cheap products),” Odsey said.

He said the Kadiwa Program of Agriculture Secretary William Dar has allowed the agency to help farmers and small agriculture entrepreneurs by providing an outlet for their products, especially during the pandemic when most outlets have stopped operation.

Aside from the Kadiwa stores going around different places bringing different agricultural products, the different DA offices in the different regions have also established Kadiwa Centers within their compounds that accommodate farmers’ fresh products or processed goods. (PNA)