Department of Agriculture eyes a Kadiwa store in every province

MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday said that his administration targets to open Kadiwa outlets in all 82 provinces in the country before the end of the term of President Marcos in 2028.

“Well, (I plan to) expand Kadiwa. Hopefully, one Kadiwa for every province or municipality, if possible,” Tiu Laurel said ahead of the scheduled third State of the Nation Address of Marcos.

Tiu Laurel added that the Department of Agriculture (DA) wants Kadiwa stores to be available in the 1,500 municipalities.

“Then hopefully, if we have that set up, the farmers and fisherfolk can directly sell their produce to the consumers,” he added.

Tiu Laurel said that this will also cut the middlemen and will result in cheaper prices of farm products.

“More income for the farmers and cheaper retail prices for consumers. That’s what I am working on but of course, to be able to achieve that, we need investment on agricultural ports, postharvest facilities, dryers, silos, warehouses and cold storage for frozen (products) and ice plants,” Tiu Laurel noted.

He said that the DA aims to provide soft loans to farmers to support various postharvest facilities.

According to him, under the proposed 2025 budget, the DA is asking for a guarantee fund to finance the low interest loans for farmers organizations.

Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel said that the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) targets to plant 100 million coconut trees in the next four years as part of efforts to boost the local industry.

“So this year, we target to plant 8.5 million (coconut trees), then next year, 15 million and then the last two years, 25 million each,” he added.

According to Tiu Laurel, the current coconut trees only produce between 40 and 50 nuts per year.

“Majority (of the coconut trees to be planted) will be the hybrid dwarf. It (new variety) can produce up to 100 to 120 nuts per year,” Tiu Laurel said, adding the PCA will implement the fertilization project to increase production from 60 to 70 percent.

He said among the targeted areas for the fertilization project are coconut producing regions like Camarines Sur, Quezon and Mindanao.