By Raymund Antonio Vice President Leni Robredo, through her flagship Angat Buhay program, spearheaded on Thursday the launch of a project that will capacitate poor farmers for them to directly market their locally grown produce to commercial establishments. Calling it “Omasenso sa Kabuhayan,” she led the official launch of the project at Robinsons Place in Naga City, where 80 farmers who participated in the project were present. (OVP / MANILA BULLETIN) The project aims to boost the income of local farmers from Metro Naga and other nearby towns of Camarines Sur by promoting the supply of their produce to commercial establishments. Apart from profit, farmers can also increase their harvest and become agri-entrepreneurs through the Omasenso project. Robredo, a native of Bicol, witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding between her office and different local government agencies committing to help these farmers. Business owners and local government officials attended the event. In her message, the Vice President urged local officials and stakeholders to ensure that local farmers would meet the quality and standard of the products of their prospective buyers. “The most crucial and most important thing here is convergence. Convergence should be worked on, not only in our office but also among the stakeholders and farmers,” she said in her local dialect. The Office of the Vice President came up with the project after it conducted a series of consultations with several stakeholders that started in October 2017. During the consultations, they agreed to support the linking of local farmers with institutional markets in Metro Naga. At present, some farmers have started supplying calamansi to Bigg’s Diner, one of the leading food chain in Bicol, facilitated by the OVP through the Omasenso project.