Thousands of small and medium entrepreneurs, along with suppliers and manufacturers gathered at the World Trade Center Manila, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City for the Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2008 held last October 9 – 11, 2008.
A total of 267 exhibitors from different regions of the country, 47 of which are international companies, brought their products and knowledge in their respected fields and shared it with other farmers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and guests.
Its organizers, the Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development Inc. (FRLD) came up with the theme “Sustaining Agricultural Growth through Niche Markets”, giving high importance to the growing niche market of several agricultural products that have been left untapped by entrepreneurs from these disciplines.
In an interview with Mr. Antonio Roces, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Market Information Dissemination (MARID), because farmers have limited capital and undersized lands; aiming at a bigger market is a financial risk. By starting at smaller markets, their innovations and technology at hand, higher advantage can be achieved, thus, producing greater profitability.
“If they are going to a niche market, they can maximize their learning and innovative skills rather than depend on big capital. You become like the big fish in the small pond. Pizza before was a niche market. But now you have pizzas all over the place. It has graduated from a niche market to a big market. This is how we hope we can get the smaller entrepreneurs who have the knowledge and the expertise and the innovative and creative skills [to] get into the market even with a limited capital”, said Mr. Roces.
According to him, the initiative for Agrilink started during the drafting of Republic Act 8435 or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997.
“We saw that there was a need for an exhibit so that our farmers and fisher folks would see what was available and they could now choose what was most appropriate for them to be able to modernize and become more productive and more competitive”, he added.
Mr. Roces further shared that, “Part of the missionary effort is to reach out to many people all over the country. So we realized that our main clientele here are the agri-businessmen – people who can buy the equipment. But still, we want, even the smallest farmers to have access to information and get an idea of what he has to get into by himself or by a group so they can have the economies of scale.”
Sharing the Foundation’s endeavor are various groups from the private and local government and international sector. These include the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, French Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (Le Club), Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association, Philippine Association of Hog Raisers, Inc., Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., Philippine Coconut Authority, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc., (PHILFOODEX), and Philippine Sugar Research Institute Foundation.
Seminars concerning various topics were conducted in makeshift seminar halls inside the Trade Center. San Miguel Foods, Inc. spearheaded discussions on hog raising. The important aspects on niche marketing was discussed by Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center. Agri-Aqua Network International educated the listeners about medicinal herbs and organic fertilizers. The rest of the topics are found here.
International Agribusiness Exhibition and Seminars (Agrilink), which focuses on the agricultural products and needs of farmers, started in 1994 as a trade-seminar focused on hog raising. Its scope was broadened since then and has been held consistently for 14 years. On the other hand, the International Food Processing, Packaging and Products Exhibition (Foodlink), dedicated to new developments on food preservation, preparation and storage has been continuously organized for nine years. And the most recent addition, the National Fisheries Exhibition and Seminars (Aqualink) began in 2005 as a way to tackle the different needs of the fishing industry.
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