SARIAYA, Quezon—Several farmer-traders at the Sentrong Pamilihan ng Produktong Agrikultura ng Quezon (SPPAQ) revealed their success stories as daily trading activities among buyers and sellers inside the central vegetable market here have reached three tons of agricultural products.

Ariel Mañalac, market administrator at SPPAQ, said several farmers here have shown vastly improved economic condition since joining the agricultural program being pushed by 2nd District Rep. Proceso Alcala.

Mañalac cited barangay chairman Pete Tolentino of barangay San Pedro in Tiaong town, who was provided inputs of highland crops by the Sentrong Pamilhan worth P517,655 and was already able to pay P197,120.

Tolentino planted bell pepper, lettuce, snapbeans, carrots and tomato in his five-hectare farmlot and he is still harvesting.

Another farmer was Felipe Heli of barangay Mangalang Tulo-Tulo, Sariaya, who borrowed seed tomato crops from the Sentrong Pamilihan worth P72,200 but already earned an income of P162,460.

“When I first saw the place of Felipe Heli, it was just built from flimsy materials made to look like a house. In fact, it is just like a matchbox. But now he lives in a decent house and has put up a sari-sari store with a starting capital of P10,000,” Mañalac recounted to BusinessMirror.

The Sentrong Pamilihan, located at barangay Sampaloc 2 here and which began operation in May 2006, has listed an initial 14 successful farmers in the second district who are now enjoying life through their harvest of crops provided with no collateral except commitment, honesty and dedication, according to Mañalac.

Mañalac outlined the operational guidelines for the Sentrong Pamilihan as follows: the SP provides inputs needed by the farmers such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. The amount of inputs provided to farmer-members is part of their loan without interest.

There is a memorandum of agreement between the farmer and the SP stating that all the produce of the farmer will be exclusively sold to SP, which pays the farmer’s produce in cash and has it picked up at the farm.

As part of the farmer’s profit, the SP pays him P200 per day. The cost of the production inclusive of the inputs and labor over the expected yield of the produce will be the basis for the amount in which the SP will buy the farmer’s produce.

Alcala came up with the idea of putting up a trading post for vegetables and other agricultural products to help uplift the living condition of farmers in the second district, which hosts productive croplands where about 70 percent of crop and vegetable production in the province is made.

Alcala has linked arms with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap in his effort to link vegetable farmers here to distribution and selling points in Metro Manila.

The congressman has tapped the help and agricultural expertise of Dr. Rodrigo Monterey Sr. of UP-Los Baños and the management skill of Mañalac, a former supervising executive of Asia Brewery in its office branch in Lucena City.

Monterey has crafted an agricultural program to backstop the operation of the Sentrong Pamilihan. The program involves the farmers to undergo values formation, entrepreneurship training and farm-technology education.

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SARIAYA, Quezon—Several farmer-traders at the Sentrong Pamilihan ng Produktong Agrikultura ng Quezon (SPPAQ) revealed their success stories as daily trading activities among buyers and sellers inside the central vegetable market here have reached three tons of agricultural products.

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