DA Christmas market opens in Quezon City

QUEZON CITY -- The advocacy to give farmers and fisher folks direct access to the market continues.Yesterday, before I flew to Davao City for a one-on-one meeting with President Rody Duterte tomorrow, I witnessed the opening of the Dept. of Agriculture's Farmers' Christmas Market right in front of the DA main office.Just as soon as the farmers coming from the different regions of the country displayed their products, buyers and on-lookers swarmed the place.In a matter of few hours, Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat reported that one truckload of red watermelons from Bataan were sold out.It was the first day and expectedly the farmers have not really brought in many products but yesterday's display included bananas from Region 6, vegetables from Bulacan, sweet corn from Laguna and other items coming from areas outside the province.The DA Farmers' Christmas Market is the department's response to the complaint of fruit farmers, including banana growers from Mindanao, that middlemen and traders are starting to manipulate the prices again.Last week, I directed the DA officials to transform the frontage of the department into an open market during Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. sand//scontent.fmnl4-6.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15202746_1183756861706781_7300063803482191387_n.jpg?oh=e21f691013a5bb87d5180fbc8f286dd1andampoe=58F76D11 (Fresh agricultural products from the provinces hit Metro at reasonable price - Sec. Manny Pinol) Next week, I was informed that a huge volume of Pomelo, Durian and Mangosteen from Mindanao will be displayed in the Farmers' Christmas Market with pomelos going as low as P50 per kilo.Hopefully, we will be able to replicate this program in other parts of Metro Manila too to give consumers access to fresh fruits at lower prices. sand//scontent.fmnl4-6.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15203341_1183756478373486_3858487903479274390_n.jpg?oh=c6f30abbafe71d2f783d66ebba4ec783andampoe=58FB6031 (Agri chief tastes fresh water melon now on sale at DA Christmas Market)