President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. reiterated that the only way to keep Kadiwa centers in the country operational is to boost local production of agricultural goods. “Production. Isa lang ang sagot diyan kasi kung hindi kaya ng production, mag-i-import tayo. And sa lahat ng iniiwasan natin yung mag-import (Production is the only answer to that  because if not, we will be importing. And what we are avoiding the most is to import)," Marcos said on Thursday, March 17, when asked how the government will keep the Kadiwa outlets operational. The President also stressed that steady production would keep the prices of goods low. "Kaya’t ang pinapatibay natin yung production side na ‘yan. Kasi kung marami at may sistema tayong maganda na mapaparating sa palengke, sa market, yung mga bilihin ay makokontrol natin ang presyo (This is why we are boosting our production side. Because if we have a good system that will bring the goods to the markets, we can also control the prices),” he said. Marcos further said boosting the local production in the area will slowly insulate the country from importing goods from other nations, thus managing inflation. “ So yun ang general system na ating ginagawa. Pero ang puno’t dulo niyan, para mawala na yung importation, para patuloy, hindi na natin kailangan bayaran yung inflation na nanggagaling sa ibang lugar dahil nag-i-import tayo roon. Basta’t nandito lang tayo kumukuha (So that's the general system that we are doing. But the root of all that, in order to get rid of importation, so that we won't need to pay for the inflation coming from the places we imported from. As long as we are able to provide through local produce)," Marcos said. With the challenges in improving local production in the country, the chief executive said they are eyeing to transform agriculture into “a high-tech operation.” “We have to convert the Department of Agriculture into a high-tech operation dahil (because) that’s the only way na ngayon (non) to increase production. So we have to bring the technology. The technology exists, nandyan naman e (it's already there)," Marcos said. Kadiwa centers are put up by the Department of Agriculture, which Marcos heads in a concurrent capacity, where consumers can buy affordable goods from local farmers and producers. Marcos was in Camarines Sur on Thursday to launch the first Kadiwa ng Pangulo center in the Bicol Region in Pili town. The government has so far launched more than 500 Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets nationwide. [READ MORE: Marcos envisions DA as technology driven agency to ensure PH food security](https://mb.com.ph/2023/3/16/marcos-envisions-da-as-technology-driven-agency-to-ensure-ph-food-security)