MANILA, Philippines — The annual Philippine Harvest Trade Fair that promotes and sells local food products shifted to online platform amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) launched the online leg of the Philippine Harvest Trade Fair on Wednesday.
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The DOT said the move to hold the trade fair online was to make local food products more accessible to Filipino consumers despite the circumstances brought by the COVID-19 and the enhanced community quarantine.
It added that this is also a way to promote local cuisine and ingredients during the quarantine period.
This year, the Philippine Harvest will feature products from 27 local food producers. The participation of these merchants is free as the government seeks to lessen the economic impact of COVID-19 to local food and farm producers.
The local food products from MSMEs and small farmers are featured on the official Facebook page of Philippine Harvest.
The DOT said that “consumers may order directly from the respective social media accounts of participating merchants, and products will be sent to consumers via available delivery services such as GrabExpress and Lalamove, while practicing social distancing.”
“With our efforts in taking the Philippine Harvest online, we are showing that COVID-19 will not stop our mission of making locally-sourced food sustainable and available to Filipinos,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
“Not only can Filipinos continue to enjoy the best of local food products, but our hardworking farmers of our farm tourism sites and MSMEs can still receive the support they need,” she added.
The DOT’s Philippine Harvest Trade Fair was established in 2018 in partnership with the leading retail group Stores Specialists Inc. and Central Square Mall in Bonifacio Global Taguig City.
The trade fair aims “to champion the richness of Philippine agriculture, through local, organic, artisanal, and indigenous food products from each of the Philippines’ regions.” It also seeks to give farms new markets by linking them with the private sector. —Rosette Adel