MANILA, Philippines – Social enterprise Rural Rising (RuRi) is back again with another local rescue buy! As of Thursday, January 5, the non-profit agricultural organization is holding a Jumbo Strawberry Rescue Buy of Madaymen strawberries from the farmers of Benguet Province.

RuRi is seeking support for 350 kilos of jumbo strawberries freshly-harvested and carefully sorted by the strawberry farmers of Madaymen themselves. One kilo costs P599 and can be ordered via website. The dispatch date for all strawberry orders is on Sunday, January 8.

The two pick-up points are the RuRi House on 72 Maayusin Street, UP Village, Diliman, Quezon City, and RuRi South at Old Transport Terminal Bldg, Alabang Town Center, Theater Dr., Ayala Alabang.

RuRi’s founders explained why there is a bulk of strawberries left untouched – the problem is similar to what happened in 2020, when strawberries were grown specifically for the tourist summer season in April. Baguio City and Benguet were expecting tourists to flock in, but when borders from Baguio to La Trinidad and other towns were shut due to COVID-19, the farmers had nowhere to go, except to Rural Rising.

“Strawberries were our very first Rescue Buys. You can say that RuRi is the house that strawberry built.”

“Now, you’ve seen all those videos of horrible traffic everywhere you go in Baguio and talks of revenge travel. That is all true. Sadly, that did not translate into buying power. Tourists, probably because of the continuing impact of the pandemic on our economy, are not buying as much as the farmers prayed or hope,” RuRi said about the present situation.

So far, RuRi’s other ongoing rescue buy is a group sale of black corn from Villasis, Pangansian worth P499 for five kilograms.

RuRi is also holding another Box-All-You-Can event at Ayala Malls Feliz, Marikina City from January 28-29. You can sign up for a slot online.

For just P699 per person, you can fill up a 14″ x 14″ box to the brim with as many locally-produced fruits and vegetables as you can, which you hand-pick yourself from the various stalls around under 10 minutes. All proceeds from each batch are given directly to local farmers and agri-entrepreneurs. – Steph Arnaldo/Rappler.com