MARKETING IN MARANDING, LANAO DEL NORTE
WHENEVER WE VISIT places in the province, we always see to it that we visit the public market. That is where you will see the products that are produced in the locality as well as those that are sourced from other parts of the province. And that’s what we did when we visited the public market in Maranding, a progressive barangay of Lala, Lanao del Norte, last December 4-8, 2015. At the back of the main market building is a long row of permanent stalls selling rice and corn products and byproducts. It was where we realized that there are so many kinds of rice and corn bran, different in quality as well as in price. We also realized that corn grits of white corn that look very much like milled rice are available at a much lower price than rice. One kilo of “mais bugas,” as the Cebuanos call it, sells for R23 per kilo.
One item that readily caught our attention were the strings of small round longganisas that were hanging in one stall. A dozen of those little round chorizos costs R20. And when our host cooked some, the bite-size longganisas truly tasted great.
Lots of bananas are also available. And we certainly admired the beautifully ripened latundan. Aiza Rellon, our young companion who was tasked to monitor marketing strategies for the provincial government, bought one hand for only R20. The price per kilo is R15.
Fruit vegetables like tomatoes and atsal (sweet pepper) are said to be mostly imported from outside Lanao del Norte. Most of them are brought by traders from Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and elsewhere. And that could be the reason why some government officials are thinking of promoting vegetable gardening in the home.
One of the projects of Congressman Abdullah Dimaporo is home gardening. And during our trip, two experts from UP Los Baños were invited to demonstrate two systems of growing vegetables.
One of them, Prof. Primitivo Santos Jr. of the Institute of Plant