Empowering consumers in selected Public Markets in Metro Manila: A framework for the development of AgriWatchPH

Public markets are typically one of the most visited places in the country. Markets are filled with different products which are derived from farms or agriculture sector. With the growing number of vendors in public markets, overpricing, product mishandling, hoarding etc. becomes more prevalent as competition becomes stiff. This study focuses on assessing the needs assessment for the development of a mobile application which empowers consumers to actively monitor and make necessary complaint on products that go well beyond the accepted standards including Suggested Retail Prices (SRPs) for agricultural products as set by the Philippines' Department of Agriculture. Additionally, this study seeks to create a framework that will become the basis for the development of the AgriWatchPH mobile application. Innovations in price monitoring will be incorporated such as the Complaint Module using the multi-media capabilities of smartphones and Budget Planner module to guide consumers in prioritizing their needs in relation to agricultural products. Initial results show that consumers would likely use a smart application that allows them to instantly check whether prices that they see in the market are congruent to what is imposed by the Department of Agriculture.