President Marcos Jr. said he will support Kadiwa ng Pasko beyond Christmas and continue buying products directly from farmers.
Reviving his parents’ pet project, the Kadiwa stores, President Marcos Jr. enjoined low-income consumers to buy rice and other food items from the Kadiwa stores, with 14 to be deployed around the country this Christmas season.
This would help Filipinos stretch the value of their peso, which could hardly buy any food item from the wet markets with prices of veggies, meat, fish and fruits having gone skyward.
Marcos promised to expand the Kadiwa stores and extend its duration until after Christmas, to cushion the impact of continued escalation of inflation on the Filipino households.
Rice, he said, could be sold by the National Food Authority for as low as P25 per kilo (versus going rates at wet markets of P34 and up).
Initially called the Kadiwa ng Pasko project—because it is being revived this Christmas season—people can access reasonably- priced, high-quality goods while also giving the country's local agricultural producers a market, was officially launched nationwide with Marcos' participation at the program. This can be done since NFA will buy directly from the farmers.
He admitted that much should still be done to reduce the price of rice to his (campaign) promised P20 per kilo. He said NFA gets the Kadiwa rice from its own buffer stock, which it augments by continuously buying from the farmers.
"Eh ang dami pang nangyayari. At wala naman tayong magawa dahil ‘yung pagtaas ng presyo ng bilihin ay hindi naman nanggaling sa ekonomiya natin. Nanggaling sa mga pangyayari sa iba’t ibang lugar na hindi naman natin makontrol," GMA News reported.
Marcos explained that the Kadiwa ng Pasko stores are able to offer cheaper products because farmers are given assistance or other expenses are shouldered to help them sell it at a lower price, or the government gets from the buffer stock of the National Food Authority (NFA), Inquirer reported.
He promised to sustain the Kadiwa program on the holiday season to continue buying products directly from farmers while shouldering costs for transportation and other expenses so that it would not be passed on to consumers.
“Kaya sabi ko ibalik natin, meron na dating Kadiwa sa mga local government unit (LGU), pero kung kani-kanino lang. At nakita naman natin, maganda pa rin ang epekto para makatulong sa tao, kaya’t nakikita namin — sabi ko, bilang Secretary ng Department of Agriculture, ba’t di natin gawin ‘yong ginagawa ng mga LGU, ba’t di natin gawing national?” he added.
During his campaign, he pledged to bring down the cost of rice to ₱20 per kilo. Marcos said the aspiration hinges on fixing the value chain, or the series of stages involved in producing a product or service that is sold to consumers, with each state adding to the value of the product or service.
He launched one of 14 sites of Kadiwa stores while his family members opened the others last Wednesday, of which 11 are within the National Capital Region and one each for Tacloban City, Davao de Oro, and Koronadal City in South Cotabato.
The departments involved in the Kadiwa project are the departments of agriculture, trade, interior and local government, social welfare and development and labor and employment.
Tags: #MSMEs, #KadiwaNgPasko