DA7’s trade fair offers cheap prices of agri- commodities to consumers in Dumaguete City

The Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 7’s(DA-RFO7) recent trade fair and exhibit offered cheap prices of agricultural commodities to consumers in Dumaguete City.

Lowella Am-is, chairman of the board of Southern Negros Agri-fisheries Multipurpose Cooperative (SONAMCO), said that it was an opportunity for the consumers in Dumaguete to avail of affordable commodities, where the price of agricultural commodities has spiked since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Proof that people were looking for affordable products is the fact that all products were sold out during the two-day trade fair, Am-is said.

The cooperative’s mission is to serve the people by selling fresh and healthy products at an affordable cost. The 285 member-cooperative supplies a large portion of the market in Dumaguete and SONAMCO recently expanded its market to Metro Manila. They are bulk selling boneless bangus and shrimps. It is noted that SONAMCO developed 46 hectares for aquaculture and is the major enterprise of the cooperative.

Most retail fish vendors buy from them and sell at a higher price. This is the reason why the KADIWA trade fair gives the consumers the best price for agricultural commodities, Am-is said.

While Presco Nuay, a member of the Paunay Farmers’ Association, was grateful to the DA-RFO 7 for giving them a chance to sell their products at the KADIWA trade fair. “I’m glad enough that all my products were sold, the KADIWA was a convenient venue to sell my products and to offer farmgate price to the consumers,” Nuay said. The KADIWA trade fair was facilitated by the Dumaguete Cathedral Credit Cooperative.

The DA-RFO7 through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division has pipelined a series of KADIWA trade fairs and exhibits to soften the effect of the increase in prices of agricultural commodities.