DA: Over 4 million households benefit from Kadiwa

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 4.4 mlion households have benefited from the sale of various agricultural products through the government’s different Kadiwa channels since President Marcos assumed office, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Citing DA data, the President’s Report to the People 2022-2024 showed that 4.38 million households were serviced by almost 7,000 farmers cooperatives and associations (FCAs) as well as traders through Kadiwa activities from July 2022 until May of this year.

The report indicated that the DA conducted 12,554 various Kadiwa activities during the 23-month period with total sales amounting to P1.745 billion.

Kadiwa retail selling was the most conducted activity with 10,802 iterations, tallying total sales of P1.545 billion with beneficiaries amounting to 1,382 FCAs and 3.98 million households.

It was followed by Kadiwa ng Pangulo, which was rolled out from November 2022 until May 2024. It registered P150.55 million in sales across 800 activities.

About 3,876 FCAs and 399,586 households benefited from the Kadiwa ng Pangulo activities, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the Seafood KADIWA was conducted 952 times, registering P49.19 million sales for 1,727 suppliers that involved FCAs and traders. Some 67,012 customers benefited from the program, based on the DA data.

The government plans to further upscale and institutionalize Kadiwa with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier disclosing that they plan to have Kadiwa stores in at least 1,500 municipalities or provinces nationwide.

The report pointed out that the Kadiwa stores provide a “stable and affordable” food supply to Filipinos while allowing farmers to sell directly to consumers, thus reducing market layers and earning more profit.