CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) -- The Rural Agro-Enterprise Partnership for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID Growth) Project continues its support for local coffee and cacao farmers in Northern Mindanao with their participation in Forest Fest 2024 in Ayala Malls Centrio, Cagayan de Oro on April 18- 20, 2024.
A special project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the RAPID Growth Project is a value-chain-based and market-driven business development initiative that aims to propel agriculture-based processing enterprises and entrepreneurial communities to become innovative, productive, and competitive so that they will be capacitated in meeting the challenges of the global market.
The project is an institutional partner of Forest Foundation Philippines on forest conservation in the Project areas in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental through a memorandum of understanding. The said foundation is one of the organizers of Forest Fest 2024 together with The Spark Project.
A RAPID booth will feature coffee and cacao products, including green coffee beans, roasted coffee, fermented cacao beans, tablea, and chocolates from 11 farmer organizations (FOs) or MSMEs assisted by the project during the Forest Fest 2024.
DTI Region 10 OIC-Regional Director Ruel Paclipan expressed his support for the event during the Forest Fest 2024 Media Launch at Seda Centrio, Cagayan de Oro City on April 3, 2024.
“One of the supports that we will be providing other than the presence of these 11 FOs is really to promote the activity to our other stakeholders, our other entrepreneurs, our consumer organizations, and even to our network of local government units who are with us in the implementation of the RAPID Project," Paclipan said.
He said that other than the RAPID Project, DTI is also very much engaged in green economic development making sure that the perspective of the planet and people is present in all their programs and projects.
Forest Fest 2024 is a three-day experiential exhibit and fair that will showcase forest-based Mindanaoan products and empower enterprises that protect and conserve the forest in a pitch competition. (DTI-10/PIA-10)
