Us-backed online platform links farmers with consumers

THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the Philippine government’s efforts to help local farmers transport their produce to key markets and address urgent food security issues.

USAID has worked closely with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry and the private sector, represented by logistics technology start-up Insight Supply Chain Solutions, to establish DELIVER-E, a digital platform connecting Luzon farmers to buyers through an innovative, end-to-end electronic market system that addresses supply-chain gaps during community quarantine.

“We are proud to work with the Philippine government and the private sector [in opening] new distribution channels for agricultural produce, which will restore farmers’ incomes and support food security,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Y. Kim said.

Through the DELIVER-E platform, which improves linkages between producers and consumers, farmers can generate more income by selling fresher fruits and vegetables to buyers, while less food goes to waste. Since its launch in early April, DELIVER-E has enabled sales of more than 156,000 kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables through its first two e-marketplaces, Gulay ng Bayan (https://mayani.ph/ ) and City Farms Philippines (https://curaytivecityfarms.insightscs.com/ ). It also facilitated the movement of fresh produce to institutional and individual buyers in Metro Manila.

DELIVER-E is part of the P900-million USAID initiative to advance the Philippines’s competitiveness and help boost its trade and investments, especially for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.