Elson Jalapong, a sari-sari store owner in Barangay 23 cannot help, but be thankful to the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10) as it brought the Kadiwa Market to their place.

Since the city-wide implementation of the community quarantine, his family has been making do with scarce income to provide for their daily needs. “I am thankful that DA brought the Kadiwa Market to our barangay. The products sold are cheaper and affordable that helps us save, especially that our daily earning is much lesser now during the quarantine,” he accounted.

“I am looking forward for another round of Kadiwa Market in our place,” Mr. Jalapong added.

For Northern Mindanao Federation of Dairy Cooperatives (NMFDC), more popularly known for selling under its brand name, Highland Fresh Dairy Products, the Kadiwa Market has helped their group get by the pandemic by maintaining steady sales.

“Our production has been affected since the implementation of the quarantine period. Our sales has dropped significantly. So, one of our strategies is to continue joining DA’s Kadiwa. Somehow, this helps us to maintain our daily sales,” Jhuryvie Sardovia Highland Fresh’s, accounting staff-turned-saleslady shared.

“More importantly, the Kadiwa Market, has kept me in having a job during the quarantine,” Sordovia added.

Barangay 23 Chair Mario Balsarza said his constituents has not only saved some money because of the Kadiwa Market, but it also prevented them from going to congested places like the public market, a precautionary and safe measure against COVID-19.

“I will look into inviting the Kadiwa Market some other time to our barangay. This is very helpful to our people during this time. I am very thankful that DA has considered our barangay as one of its display areas,” Balsarza asserted.

He also disclosed that the Kadiwa Market also enabled barangay residents to display their homemade products.

DA-10 aims to bring together individual farmers, farmer-groups, small, medium and large enterprises and corporations in Cagayan de Oro as vendors and suppliers of the Kadiwa Market roam around the city, supplying fresh and cheap food products to Kagay-anons.

The agency provides logistics and links Kadiwa vendors to target-benefitting barangays to sell their products.#(ATalib)