TO directly link farm producers in the countryside to small wet markets in urban centers, the Department of Agriculture (DA) recently launched the Barangay Food Terminal (BFT) program. The program aims to make prime goods more accessible and affordable to low-income families.
Under the Barangay Food Terminal program, basic goods such as rice, meat, and vegetables are sold in small wet markets or stores like the government-assisted but private sector-led Tindahan Natin outlets. The project, undertaken with local government units, will lower the cost of the goods through a more efficient transportation and distribution of these goods from farms to markets.
The DA has tapped small-to medium-scale producers to supply goods to BFTs to open more markets in urban centers to farmers and livestock raisers in the countryside. According to the Department of Agriculture, BFT-covered areas will not compete with regular wet markets but will complement them in selling basic commodities to low-income groups in depressed barangays.
The Department of Agriculture is on the right track in promoting food terminals in depressed barangays. This will not only assist the residents in these blighted urban areas but will also provide a market for rural producers who can not, by themselves, penetrate the highly competitive and costly regular markets in urban areas.
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