Barangay Officials of Cogon, El Salvador City, Missamis Oriental took time to have their benchmarking activity, particularly on the operations of the trading facility namely the La Trinidad Bagsakan or Trading Post and the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) on October 17, 2024.
The purpose of the benchmarking activity was to have a glimpse of how the bagsakan operates and the flow of trading of vegetables from the farmers to the consumers. This way, Barangay Cogon can also adopt since they have a market day every Wednesday. Also, Barangay Cogon is known for its market day “tabo” trading of cattle for both Visayas and Mindanao area.
Ms. Janice Binay-an, La Trinidad Trading Post Market Supervisor oriented the group about the operations and the flow of vegetables from farmers’ harvest until they reached the La Trinidad Trading Post. She also mentions how the trading post came into existence and highlighted that Benguet is the Salad Bowl of the Philippines. Traffic flow was also mentioned where every trader’s trucks for a particular area have its designated time of packing.
At the BAPTC, staff from the Trading Operations Division (TOD) and Institutional Development and Extension Services Unit (IDESU) extended their assistance to the group. Ms. Octavia S. Ablos, Institutional Development and Extension Services Unit Officer warmly welcomed the group and shared a brief thought on the operations of the BAPTC. As the group toured the facility, a question-and-answer methodology was employed to ensure that all of the visitors’ queries were attended to. Assisting the group were Ms. May Claire Siplat, Institutional Development Assistant; Ms. Geladrin A. Bautista, Trading Operations Inspector; Mr. Louie T. Toclo, Training Operations Inspector; Mr. Jay-r Sacley C. Diwas, Market Specialist; Mr. Jordan B. Subion and Mr. Sixto Lapniten, Jr. both Trading Operations Attendant.
Aside from the La Trinidad Trading Post and BAPTC, the group would be visiting the Pangasinan Livestock Auction Center in Urdaneta City and at the Padre Garcia Cattle Capital Center including the Lemery Livestock Center at Lemery, Batangas.
The said activity was coordinated through the Agricultural Training Center Regional Training Center X and endorsed to ATI-CO and then to ATI-RTC-CAR for technical assistance to the group.
