Piña, Papaya, Pomelo! Prutasan Sa Kabasalan; Talaba, Banisil Sa Mlang

The experimental Modified Barter System between inland farmers of Cotabato and their counterparts in the coastal areas of Zamboanga Sibugay will be launched on Friday, Sept. 23, with fruits from Cotabato sold in Kabasalan and shells gathered by fisherfolk in the coastal area sold the following day, Sept. 24, in the town of Mlang.
At least 2.5-metric tons of Pineapple and Papaya from South Cotabato and Pomelo from Mlang will be on sale in a makeshift fruit stall established by the fisherfolk group led by 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon supported by the LGU Kabasalan under Mayor Katrina Balladares.
The truck that will bring the fruits to Kabasalan will travel back to Cotabato with a backload of 5 metric tons of shells, Bagongon and Banisil, and Talaba, produced in the mouth of Kabasalan River which earlier this year received a support of P200,000 from then Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Mlang Vice Mayor Joselito Piñol will handle the distribution of the shells and oysters in the different markets of Cotabato starting Saturday in Mlang, Sunday in Kidapawan City, Tuesday inNew Rizal, Mlang and Wednesday in Tulunan.
Should the launching prove to be successful, the activity will be held every weekend and the commodities would later include vegetables from Bukidnon and fresh fish from Olutanga Island towns in Zamboanga Sibugay.
This is an experiment which I originally designed when I was Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority called the Mindanao Food Supply and Demand Map aimed at repositioning excess food supplies in one area to places where these are needed to open up marketing opportunities for producers.
It will also allow consumers access to fresh farm and aqua products at affordable prices because the system effectively eliminates the many hands of middlemen involved in the distribution of basic food commodities.
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