The Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Support for Promotion and Investments in Regional Exposition (ASPIRE) in the Caraga region wrapped up the three-day agri-fishery trade fair with a total generated sales of  ₱421,150.00 of agricultural food and non-food products.

This is based on the report from DA-Caraga’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division, headed by Division Chief Lynn Asero Pareñas.

The local products that were sold included Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and organically grown vegetables, rice, fruits, eggs, handicraft, and processed food such as jams, pastes, bread, and pastries, among others.

This year’s ASPIRE held at Robinsons Place Butuan on September 2-4, 2022, was anchored on the theme: “Strengthening Digital Marketing Towards Agribusiness Prosperity: Eat Local, Buy Local,”

It can be recalled that ASPIRE in the region was put on hold since the start of the pandemic. 

Rebecca Reyes Atega, Regional Technical Director (RTD) for Operations said that the re-staging of Aspire opened up new market opportunities for the producers and processors.

“We would like to equip our farmers with the necessary know-how, networks, and resources to become Agripreneurs by providing an avenue for benchmarking, dialogues, exchange of information and experiences, and success stories, thus, capacitating farmers, fisherfolk, to become Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs)  to optimize market opportunity promotion and advocacy through convergences,” she said.

She also said that in accordance with this year’s theme, the farmers and fisherfolk will be equipped with the digital marketing approach as a new platform to showcase their agri-products, creating more sales and income.

There were 29 exhibitors who participated in the event from five provinces in the region.

Miraflor Montano, one of the exhibitors from Bislig City, Surigao del Sur expressed her gratitude to all partner agencies as she was privileged to display her products and found potential investors with her product lines made from ginger, honey, and salabat.

“The public’s trust towards our products is different when the government does the endorsement. I am grateful that I was given a chance to expose our products at this trade fair because I found more resellers and investors,” Montano said.

Aside from the promotion of investment and marketing of agricultural and fishery commodities, ASPIRE also serves as an avenue to discuss and harmonize business development packages in terms of regional investment and market that produced a regional product branding through the farmers, fisherfolk producers, and processors from cooperatives and associations, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and partners stakeholders.

“We should be proud that Caraga is known for our own products made from mangosteen, kalamansi, cacao, and others,” Regional Agriculture and Fishery Council (RAFC) Chair Christopher H. Lindo said.

Lindo disclosed that the Caraga region is the focused region on the upcoming AgriLINK on October 6-8, 2022 at the World Trade Center in Manila, hence, the staging of ASPIRE was an avenue in scouting potential products to be exposed on the said prestigious trade expo.  

ASPIRE Caraga is a collaborative effort between DA and other government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Caraga, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Butuan City, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Caraga, Local Government Units (LGU), and the farmers and fisherfolk industry clusters. (Lovely Joy Saludez/DA-CARAGA)