The Dream Never Dies! Farm-Market Direct Link: A 20-Year-Old Advocacy

My advocacy to directly link food producers with consumers to bring down the cost of food and protect farmers from exploitation started over 20 years ago when I was Governor of North Cotabato.
In fact, it was a dream that I carried as a young boy growing up in the farm and seeing for myself how farmers were exploited by middlemen who dictated the prices of their produce.
When I was elected Governor of North Cotabato in 1998, I saw the problems which confronted our fruit growers in the province who could not sell their produce at a good price because of the lack of access to the market.
So, I came up with two plans, short term and long term.
The short-term program was to conduct a Fruit and Agricultural Products Expo in partnership with SM Megamall where we brought the fruits of the province every fruiting season from August to September to be displayed and sold in SM Megamall.
The Fruit Expo also included a business matching event where our local farmers linked up with institutional buyers of their produce based in Metro Manila.
It was such a huge success that in the years that followed, even SM Cebu City also hosted the Cotabato Fruit Expo.
As a long term plan, the Provincial Government acquired a piece of land in my hometown M’lang to build an airport which I envisioned then as an important infrastructure to bring our products to the market.
The Mlang Rural Airport, which was initially funded with a P30-M support fund sourced by then President Gloria Maapagal-Arroyo, is still undergoing construction until today.
I am certain it will be operational within the next few years as the Dept. of Transportation had already allocated funds for its construction.
Perhaps this story of my advocacy to link our farmers with the consumers will make people understand that things do not happen overnight.
There are dreams which we have to chase and continue chasing until they become realities.
#TheDreamNeverDies!
#FarmersConsumersLinkage!
(First photo shows fruits displayed during the Timpupo Festival in Kidapawan City while the second photo shows the Mlang Rural Airport while the last two images show old news clippings of the Cotabato Fruit Expo in SM Megamall.)