DA eyes setting up 1,500 brick-and-mortar Kadiwa stores in next 3 years

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday bared its plan to set up Kadiwa stores in every city and municipality all over the country on the heels of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s announcement that his administration will make Kadiwa stalls a permanent fixture.

At the post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum in Pasay City, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. explained in detail Marcos’ marching order to make Kadiwa stores permanent.

In his third SONA on Monday, the President touted the Kadiwa initiative’s effectiveness in easing the public’s burden from high food prices.

With this, Marcos said, “layunun nating gawing permanente at mas madalas pa ang pagdaraos ng mga Kadiwa (Our aim is to make Kadiwa permanent and more frequent).”

The Kadiwa is a program of the DA which aims to provide the public with affordable goods by enabling the farming community to sell goods directly to consumers without the trader-intermediaries.

Tiu Laurel said that from mere “pop-up stores,” the DA will make permanent “brick-and-mortar” Kadiwa stores “all over the Philippines.”

“Hopefully, we will try to achieve 1,500 sites in the next three years para masilbihan ang halos bawat munisipyo at city sa buong Pilipinas (in a bid to serve almost every municipality and city in the entire Philippines),” the Agriculture chief said.

Marcos previously said there are more than 500 Kadiwa stalls across the country catering to the basic needs of consumers at a cheaper price.

During the holiday season last year, the Marcos administration started a substantial number of Kadiwa stores and outlets all over the country as part of its measures to ensure food security and help consumers from rising prices.

Coop-run Kadiwa

The Agriculture chief also bared the DA’s plan to make Kadiwa stores be run or managed by farmers cooperatives eventually.

“So that farmers and fishermen can sell directly to consumers [without intermediaries],” Tiu Laurel said.

“Para lumaki ang kita ng farmers and fishermen at bumaba naman ang presyo ng mga consumers (This is also to boost the earnings of farmers and fishermen and reduce the prices for consumers),” the DA chief said.

Tiu Laurel added that turning over Kadiwa stores’ management to farmers cooperatives “will keep wholesalers and retailers honest para mabawasan ang profiteering if possible at mapababa ang inflation (to address profiteering and if possible bring down inflation.”

Early this month, various government agencies pushed for the establishment of Kadiwa stalls in local government units across the Philippines. —KG, GMA Integrated News