Mini-Agraryo Trade Fair registers P241K in total sales

By JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
August 16, 2024

TACLOBAN CITY – In four days, the mini-agraryo trade fair, held last week at the regional office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in this city, registered P241,110.00 in total sales.

On Tuesday, August 6 this year, Atty. Robert Anthony Yu, DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director, formally opened the said mini-trade fair showcasing products of agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) from all over the region, which ran until August 9.

Various products ranging from fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs, to processed foods and handicrafts were available during the entire duration.

The booth of the Province of Leyte registered with the highest sales at P73,648.00, followed by the booth of the Province of Western Samar with total sales of P43,322.00.

Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte and Biliran registered total sales of P36,210.00, P33,075.00, P30,970.00 and P23,885.00, respectively.

According to Ronelo Jose Zamora, chief of the Program Beneficiaries Development Division, among the salable products during the said trade fair include fruits and vegetables, root crops, eggs, banana and camote chips, bokarilyo, igot wine, chicharukog, coffee and chocolate, pili products, labtingaw, suman taro chips and calamansi juice.

The mini-agraryo trade fair was among the main activities of the 36th anniversary celebration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the region to help ARBOs and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) promote their products.

Aside from farming, DAR officials encourage ARBs and ARBOs to engage in livelihood activities and become entrepreneurs to have additional source of income.

At the moment, 361 ARBOs out of the 757 DAR-assisted ARBOs regionwide are already managing profitable enterprises.

Nine ARBOs were issued with a License to Operate (LTO), while four ARBO products were issued with Certificate of Product Registration (CPR), both from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), giving them opportunity to penetrate a wider market.