The Cebu City Agriculture Department (CAD) already started last week the full implementation of its Agrepreneurs Program wherein farmers are allowed to sell their produce directly to their buyers.
The program is expected to reduce the cost of fruits and vegetables sold at city markets because this eliminates the need for middlemen, said a statement posted on the CAD Facebook page late on Saturday afternoon.
“This program mutually benefits the buyer and farmers, as prices of fresh vegetables are pegged at P5 below (its) Carbon market price…” said the CAD FB post.
Under the program, the city government established a vegetable pickup point at the Cebu City Resources Management and Development Center (Cremdec) grounds in the mountain barangay of Taptap.
Buyers could visit the Taptap pick-up point on Tuesdays and Fridays to collect the fruits and vegetables that they ordered from Cebu City farmers.
“The program establishes a system wherein institutional buyer like Metro Gaisano directly buys fresh vegetables from farmers in the upland barangays of Cebu City,” the CAD statement said.