Pinoland Kidapawan tropical fruits in Manila on October

KIDAPAWAN CITY -If you have been dreaming of getting of the taste of the exotic but highly perishable Marang or the new variety of Rambutan called Mt. Apo Red, then prepare for October.Kidapawan City, the capital of North Cotabato, and other fruit-growing towns are staging a Fruit Festival in Metro Manila and the Dept. of Agriculture will be helping them organise it.While the fruit harvest in North Cotabato is not as bountiful as it was in the previous years because of the long drought brought by El Niño last year and early this year, there is still a large production of fruits in areas around Mt. Apo.Last Saturday, the week-long Timpupo Festival started in Kidapawan City with stalls displaying fruits from all over the province.It was Mayor Joseph Evangelista and Vice Mayor Jun Piñol, my younger brother, who brought up the idea of reviving a project which the Province of North Cotabato did during the years I was Governor - the Annual Fruit Festival in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila.The project not only aimed to sell fruits and other agricultural products from North Cotabato but also to link up farmers' group to buyers in Metro Manila.It was because of that program that the Lacatan Banana Growers of North Cotabato, who were able to find a regular buyer in Metro Manila, are earning well nowadays. sand//scontent.fmnl4-6.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14102413_1088308854584916_8889720478299373654_n.jpg?oh=8ab0aa0f984b3e4152d8b3d258caac79andampoe=584E8C87 (Eat all you can in Kidapawan City's Timpupo Festival-photo courtesy of Sec. Pinol) In 2007, when I became Vice Governor to then Gov. Jesus Sacdalan, then Senator Richard Gordon (who is now back in the Senate) sponsored the Fruits of Hope Project.Using a C-130 transport plane of the Philippine Air Force, fruit farmers from North Cotabato brought their products to the market.As soon as the plane landed in the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, the plane load of fruits was sold out in a few hours.I have already instructed Evelyn Laviña, UnderSecretary for High Value Crops, to coordinate with Mayor Evangelista for the staging of the Cotabato Fruit and Agri Festival this October.After North Cotabato, perhaps other provinces could also be asked to hold their own festival in Metro Manila to introduce their agri and fisheries products to prospective buyers.I have long been entertaining the idea of getting the fishermen of the BaSulTa area (for Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) to display the rich marine products from the area so they too could establish links with buyers in Metro.