MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday that it was looking to start franchising Kadiwa Centers to the private sector and cooperatives for the remainder of the Marcos administration to give the public more access to affordable commodities.

To date, there are 230 Kadiwa sites that have been put up nationwide. Of this number, 17 are under regular operation, which the DA hopes to increase every month with the agency also standardizing their operating days and hours.

"Once we establish the smooth logistics flow of the goods and the transactions, we will expand this in the next four years and my target is 800 to 1,000 stores," DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said in an interview with the "Malacañang Insider."

"We will also do Kadiwa franchising. We will allow private sector operators or cooperatives to use the Kadiwa name in selected sites as long as they abide by the rules and guidelines or policies of DA. More importantly, for them to sell in Kadiwa at the right price," he added.

The move is a follow-up to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s order in his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) to make all Kadiwa stores permanent.

The Kadiwa concept is a farm-to-consumer market initiative that eliminates middlemen and intermediaries which in turn helps local producers to generate higher income by selling their goods directly to consumers as well as temper inflation.

Expanding Kadiwa sites is also seen to keep retailers and wholesalers honest to prevent profiteering which jacks up the prices of goods.

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