Rural stores selling wholesale-priced common items to its card-bearing members, including farm inputs like fertiliser, while at the same time guiding them on what to produce for the market outside of their communities will be established in Mindanao and Palawan next year, starting with the earthquake affected towns and the conflict areas like Sulu and Lanao del Sur.
The MinDA Tienda Project initiated by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) is taking shape fast as the Ateneo de Davao School of Business and Governance has volunteered to help craft the framework of what could be the first consumers and farmers supply depot in the rural areas of Mindanao.
A private corporation based in General Santos City and Cebu which owns 30 branches of convenience stores in Cebu has also volunteered to partner with the MinDA in implementing the MinDA Tienda Program and buy members’ produce for distribution in its stores outside of Mindanao.
The MinDA Tienda Project is aimed at providing rural consumers, especially farmers and fisherfolk, access to farm inputs and equipment and household supplies at prices lower than in commercial stores.
Farmers and fisherfolk will be registered as members of the MinDA Tienda for them to avail of the special prices while at the same time, they will be assured of a market for their produce.
As card-bearing members, they will be earning shares every time they buy from and sell their produce to the MinDA Tienda.
The MinDA Tienda Project is expected to transform rural agricultural and fisheries production into a market-oriented activity as the members will be guided on what to produce based on the needs of the market.
By giving the members access to farm inputs and commodities at lower prices, the MinDA Tienda Program is also expected to increase their income which in the long run will contribute to the reduction of poverty in Mindanao and Palawan.
(Photos show officials of MinDA led by Sec. Manny Piñol, during consultations with the professors and students of the Ateneo de Davao School of Business and Governance on the institutionalisation of the MinDA Tienda Project held at the AdDU compound in Davao City last week.)
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