Ace Estrada’s passion found him during the pandemic. His and his wife Andrea’s efforts to support farmers by bringing their fresh produce to Metro Manila brought about the establishment of Rural Rising PH (RuRi).

RuRi is a Facebook group (@ruralrisingph) that brings “rescued” vegetables from the northern part of Luzon to Metro Manila at a very affordable price.

“It was all accidental. My wife and I are educators. We teach English and coding. But during the start of the pandemic, we noticed that the farmers were having trouble. They were giving away their produce because nobody was buying,” he said.

During the lockdown of May 2020, crossing borders was difficult and complicated. Farmers were throwing away carrots, potatoes and cabbages because they couldn’t send them anywhere. It prompted Estrada, who is based in Baguio, to make a Facebook post about the situation.

“We rented a truck from the government. It was a red plate, hence it could easily go from Baguio to Manila,” he said. Estrada calls their haul “rescued produce.”

One misconception people have when they hear the word “rescued” is that the vegetables are rejects. It’s not. It literally just means that they were rescued from going to waste.

RuRi also paid the farmers fairly.

“Farmers are not businessmen. They are used to middlemen pricing their vegetables for them. We teach them how to price their products. We insist that they give us a number that would make it viable for them. Then whatever price they give, we double, or sometimes triple it,” he said.

5,000 farmers

How the Estradas treated the Benguet farmers spread through word of mouth. Farmers from Nueva Ecija, the rest of Mountain Province, Batanes and other parts of Luzon reached out to them, asking for help. They started with three farmers, now they are working with over 5,000.

Yet, they still manage to keep the prices low. It’s one of the reasons RuRi became popular. They sold vegetables for P15-35 per kilo in 2021. They were able to do this because RuRi only charged to cover the cost of gas, the vehicle rental, and the driver’s wages.

The only catch was that they had to buy the vegetables in bulk. Estrada said that this led to community sharing. Their buyers would buy 20 kgs and share it with their neighbors.

They are not against buyers who buy from them for profit. The couple is passionate about promoting local fruits and vegetables over imported ones, hence they encourage its buying and selling.

They also came up with the marketing campaign, Box-All-You-Can, where people could fill a box with as much vegetables as they could for about P500. They would hold these events in malls or areas where they are invited.

No compassion fatigue

They don’t intend to stop anytime soon. Estrada said that RuRi is especially needed now with the inflation.

“I was in a [grocery store] recently and saw the same butternut squash that we had being sold for P200 per kilo. We only sell ours for P500 for every 10 kg,” he said.

He is also proud that they’ve never experienced compassion fatigue, which happens when donors stop supporting a cause because of repeated requests.

They’ve held a number of fundraising events for fertilizers and hospitalization of farmers and the support just kept pouring in. They have partners in different sectors, including the Bank of Commerce, United Auctioneers, Avida Land, and Canva. Individual donors also never tire of them.

“They always get something with their money. When we do fundraising, they always get vegetables in exchange. It makes them feel good that they’ve helped someone, too,” he said.

Estrada plans on expanding the reach of RuRi. They use their own savings for some of their projects but it is something that he and his wife are grateful for to be doing.

“Not all are blessed to be given the opportunity to help. This is our purpose and this is why we are here,” he said. INQJoin their Facebook group,@RuRiPh for updates on their projects and vegetable and fruits drop offs.