In Davao City, upland small farmers provide food to urban low-income families

The food needs of low-income families living in urban areas of Davao City are now being supplied by small farmers from the upland villages of the city.

The urban families are now getting food assistance of freshly-harvested vegetables and other products sourced from small upland farms of Davao.

The food assistance is given free by the local government of Davao. The farm products are bought at higher prices.

The strategy was devised to help both upland small farmers and families living in urban areas, whose incomes were affected by the impact of Covid-19 on the local economy.

This is a program called Buyback, Repack and Distribute: Tabang sa Mag-uuma Program. It was rolled out Thursday.

“The Buyback Repack and Distribute program is really for us and the farmers. Our farmers made their harvest available for the city government to be repacked and distributed as part of our rations,” said City Agriculturist Leo Brian Leuterio.

The farm products were repacked and distributed to families affected by the closure of some business establishments following the declaration of the community quarantine because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pilot area of distribution was Barangay Tibungco, which has roughly 12,000 families.

“This really helped them also because the city bought their products at a higher price value than the farm gate price,” said Leuterio.

Leuterio said his office is currently repacking up to 10 tons of vegetables to be distributed to other barangays in the city.

Fish products were also given to residents from Davao MarinaTuna Corporation.

On Thursday, the local government also launched hot meal stations in 98 barangays of the city to serve freshly-cooked lugaw and lomi to Dabawenyos.

Mayor Inday Sara Duterte explained that the hot meal stations will serve food in densely-populated areas.

“We concentrated our distribution in barangays with a large population,” she said, adding that the city hopes to serve hot meals twice a day — in the morning and in the afternoon.

Mayor Sara said that her office hopes to find additional hot meal suppliers to be able to serve more Dabawenyos.

The food stations, she said, will be serving hot meals until needed.

She said the food assistance augments the distribution of relief goods led by the City Social Services and Welfare Office.

She emphasized that the local government envisions that no family will get hungry in this time of health crisis. CIO