The provincial government of Ilocos Norte is giving a group of farmer-producers and -processors here a boost by providing them a link to high-end consumers through a “pasalubong center” inside a mall.

“We are working on a partnership with the Robinsons Mall and the Ilocos Norte Farmers Processors Cooperative for a ‘pasalubong center’ where they can display their products,” Elma Gabriel, head of the provincial government’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Office (MSMEO), said in an interview on Wednesday.

The market link is on top of the cooperative’s participation in government-organized trade fairs and the producer-to-consumer program, she added.

Gabriel said food manufacturing and processing are among the flagship programs of the provincial government to boost the local economy.

The province also runs a business incubation center that serves as a co-working space and a one-stop shop for MSMEs.

A growing number of home-grown entrepreneurs here are now observed seeking assistance for product development and innovation at the center, which paved the way for the creation of a farmers’ processors cooperative, enabling them to transact or negotiate with business institutions.

This came after the center started mentoring MSMEs on improving packaging and labelling design, barcoding, registration with the Food and Drug Administration and Land Transportation Office, nutrifact analysis, microbial analysis, shelf-life testing, and product design enhancement, among others.

As of end-2024, there were about 22,490 MSMEs in the province, mostly micro enterprises engaged in food businesses.

MSMEs account for about 99.5 percent of established businesses and employ about 63 percent of the workforce in the province. (PNA)