February 19, 2021
Multi-purpose Hall, New Lucena, Iloilo
Last February 19th, CISSA, the central Iloilo ESSAcluster met at New Lucena to continue planning for their cluster initiatives for sustainable agriculture. Among the agenda points were: Baseline survey, Marketing links and a proposal presentation.
Baseline Survey:
The municipalities of Passi, Cabatuan amd Lambunao discussed the possibility of conducting on-site inspections and profiling to identify possible farms that the cluster can work with. They also discussed methods of interview to discern that the farms are aligned with sustainable agriculture.
Marketing Links:
The municipalities then began to discuss strategies for sales of the produce. The discussion encompassed topics such as the current state of supply and demand of various produce, what additional types of produce are needed and who can provide them. They also discussed the creation of a network to facilitate sales, distribution and delivery of the produce of ESSA affiliated farms.
It was suggested that each municipality differentiate the type of produce they plant in order to maximize demand as well as diversity. They decided that it is best to start ASAP and iron out the system later. The first step is to post a product board on Google Drive for the farmers to access and fill out.
The CISSA cluster will reconvene on March 12 to further their plans for the future.