BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (July 30)—The Department of Agriculture (DA)-Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) has tapped an online application of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) called oneSTORE City in the delivery of food and other agricultural products in the region.
DA-Region 2 Executive Director Narciso Edillo said the agreement between his unit and DoST-Region 2 seeks to strengthen the market linkage between food producers and consumers in the region.
“This strong partnership with the DoST in Region 2 will surely strengthen the market linkages with enterprises in the Cagayan Valley region,” Edillo said, adding that with the strict social distancing protocols ushered in by the coronavirus disease 2019, many Filipinos have started embracing digital technology.
Engineer Sancho Mabborang, DoST-Region 2 director, said the oneSTORE City mobile application is sourced from the government’s e-commerce platform oneSTORE.ph that is a business-to-customer and business-to-business platform.
He said the oneSTORE.ph website has oneSTORE City as an e-commerce platform with a delivery app to also facilitate marketing and delivery of primary agricultural goods sold under the DA’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita project.
The oneSTORE City app can be downloaded at Google Play Store and requires a user to sign up. The user must select Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita so he or she can avail of free delivery of food and agricultural products within a city or area of coverage.
He said the platform is also dedicated to marketing high-quality Filipino products of DoST-assisted micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the world wide web.
Mabborang said collaborations with the DA-Region 2 would bear fruit as the project has pooled 360 businesses and with over 12,000 products nationwide.
“[B]ad situations bring out the best in people. Our customers and producers will adopt this new normal. Thus, [this platform] will make their lives easy as it will [bring] quality products to many doorsteps,” he said.
Mabborang said the app will also help boost government support to farmers, producers and MSMEs.
During the virtual partnership signing ceremony for the app’s launching, Edillo expressed gratitude to DoST-Region 2 as it will facilitate the movement of agricultural products and generate more sales that will help farmers and fisherfolks in the region.