President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday directed the Department of Agriculture to help bring down the prices of basic food items in line with the hunger mitigation program of the government.

The president instructed the DA to ensure that affordable quality food is accessible, especially to low-income families who are most affected by the rising cost of commodities, a press release from the Office of the Press Secretary said.

"Our Barangay Food Terminals and Bagsakan or drop-off points are consumer friendly and they offer affordable prices to our kababayans," Arroyo said in a press release.

As of mid-October this year, 22 BFTs have been established in Metro Manila and six in Luzon and the Visayas. The BFTs sell basic foodstuff at a price lower than those sold in regular retail markets.

At least 450,000 families have benefited from the BFTs, it said.

Under the President's Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program, the DA is targeting the establishment of 27 BFTs in Metro Manila this year, and 48 more in various regions all over the country, the Malacañang statement said.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, earlier appealed to food suppliers to help pull down prices of basic commodities by bringing their produce directly to consumer-friendly BFTs and Bagsakan or drop-off points in Metro Manila.

Yap also directed the DA's regional executive directors and personnel of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service to coordinate closely with food suppliers in facilitating the transport and marketing of their goods to BFTs and bagsakan centers, where consumers can buy food staples such as rice, meat and vegetables at prices up to 12 percent cheaper than those sold in regular retail outlets.

Yap assured food suppliers that the DA is ready to help them sell affordably priced goods while earning high profit margins for their produce through the removal of unnecessary trading layers and facilitating direct market linkages between producers and end-consumers, the press release also said.*

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