Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Pangasinan Conducts Market Forum with Demand Partners and Community - Based Organizations

BINALONAN, PANGASINAN - With the aim to link the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in Pangasinan to prospective markets, the Provincial Office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Pangasinan conducted the Market Forum on March 5, 2024 in Big Elephant Resort, Binalonan, Pangasinan with the theme "Bringing the ARBOs to the Marketing Business". 

The objectives of the said activity are to build the awareness of the ARBOs on market opportunities, link them to institutional buyers, build their awareness on the compliance to PhilGeps, and understand the terms of references of potential markets.

To familiarize the Community - Based Organizations (CBOs) present in the activity on the existing market opportunities, the agency invited the Department of Social Welfare and Development through the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP), Procurement Section and the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty Regional Program Management Office  (EPAHP RPMO), the National Nutrition Council, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the SM Company, and the Nutridense Food Corporation. These agencies and companies presented their food needs for their operations that can be supplied by the the ARBOs. 

As a result, the NNC was able to get commitments from two ARBOs to supply for their implementation in two municipalities. The DSWD was also able to identify more ARBOs that can be potential suppliers for SFP and Nutridense Corporation heightened the interest of more CBOs to be their supplier of raw materials for the nutripacks that they produce. 

To maximize the opportunity where CBOs are already convened, DSWD Procurement Section staff provided a brief orientation on the Negotiated Procurement - Community Participation (NP-CP) and the eligibility requirements that the CBOs  need to comply to participate as suppliers.