With DAR LinkSFarMM, Pangasinan Farmers Have Sure Buyers
MARKETING FORUM. Farmers listen attentively to one of DAR Pangasinan's LinksFarMM focal persons ARPO II Ben B. Rios before virtually meeting with a manufacturer that is looking for suppliers of squash and sweet potato.
STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan — On Thursday, kalabasa and kamote farmers from all over Pangasinan attend a virtual meeting with a potential institutional buyer that is looking for suppliers of said crops.
Under the Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets and Microfinance (LinkSFarMM) program, the Department equips agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) with agri-entrepreneurial knowledge and connects them with buyers who will purchase their produce.
The potential buyer, NutriDense Food Manufacturing Corporation (NFMC), is a research-based food manufacturer that is partners with the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute for eradicating malnutrition. The company is one of the country's accredited producers of the enhanced nutribun (eNutribun), which contains squash and sweet potato, among others.
LINKING FARMERS TO BUYERS. A squash farmer asks a question with potential institutional buyer NutriDense Food Manufacturing Corporation during the open-forum portion of the marketing meeting
In 2020, DAR linked Umingan-based agrarian reform beneficiary organization Umingan Farmers Agrarian Reform Cooperative (UFARCO) to NFMC. Under the UFARCO and NFMC's agreement, the former was contracted to supply 60,000 kilos of kalabasa to the latter. (Zarena Amado/ARPT) (Photos from Samuel Pariñas/COS)
