The 21st Davao City Council approved on first reading on Tuesday the proposed landmark ordinance on the creation of a Digital-Farm-to-Market application.
This was referred to the SP Committee on Information by Councilor Bonz Andre A. Militar with the goal of helping farmers sell their products directly to customers with the use of digitalization.
“Through the app, our food producers can directly market and sell their produce to bulk buyers, establishments, and households. They can order directly from the App, ensuring they get fresh produce and stocks at fair prices without the middleman markup. Also, by showing real-time market prices, the app can eliminate the informal and often unfair pricing practices that disadvantage our farmers and fisherfolks,” he said.
Apart from these benefits, the app will also help secure buyers before or during harvest and reduction of post-harvest losses. The platform that will not incur additional costs of fees for farmers and fisherfolks.
The councilor said that to ensure that the app is friendly and accessible they will tap the Barangay Council for Agricultural Development (BCADS) of each barangay and they will validate and onboard farmer, gather and verify data, help in local coordination and monitoring, and provide community-based support.
He also said that the city government will not be financially burdened with the app development.
“The City Government of Butuan, as the pioneer of the AgriBOOST initiative, has expressed willingness to share their source code for the AgriBOOST app, subject to our formal coordination and agreement,” Militar said.
Militar said that the landmark ordinance received support from Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who expressed clear desire to fast tract the program. CIO
