THE Cagayan de Oro City Government has allocated P3 million for the development of the food cart industry in the city.
The City Government, through the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWD) and City Poverty Reduction Team, identified some 67 beneficiaries who are vendors from Cogon and Carmen markets, and even vendors in the Divisoria area.
CSWD chief Teddy Sabuga-a said part of the package is the distribution of new food carts to the vendors, to replace their old wooden carts.
He clarified that vendors must undergo a seminar first to know the proper conduct of selling in the streets, and remind them of the right time when they are allowed to display.
"Our purpose for conducting this is really to capacitate our vendors, that when they practice the food cart selling, they do this properly, they do this having in mind what are the limitations," Sabuga-a said.
"In the seminar, we teach them discipline because as you can see in our markets now, the carts are not orderly, sometimes they block our streets which then cause traffic," he added.
The CSWD team will also see to it that the vendors have proper sanitation when they sell their products.
The project, which is under the Customer Service Entrepreneurship and Financial Management of the Bottoms-Up Budgeting (BuB) Food Cart Project, is also in line with the Cogon market's impending renovation.
The renovation will not only involve the structure of the market but also the organization of the ambulant vendors.
Sabuga-a said another batch will undergo the seminar in the next weeks, adding that eventually, the City Government hopes that all ambulant vendors will avail the program.
Interested vendors who want to undergo the seminar may go the CSWD office for inquiries, he said.
