Organization, management and utilization of the Tabo (Flea market) among rural communities in Region 8 [Eastern Visayas, Philippines].

The study was conducted in 10 municipalities of Region 8 [Eastern Visayas, Philippines] to look generally into the organizational and management set up of the tabo and its uses and effects on the participants and to come up with the baseline data on producers, middlemen and consumers involved in the tabo. One hundred fifty respondents (50 producers, 50 middlemen, and 50 consumers) were interviewed. Generally, the educational attainment of the tabo participants was low. The highest gross annual incomes earned from chief sources (farming and business) were P30,000, P300,000, and P50,000 among producers, middlemen, and consumers, respectively. Middlemen had the lowest average length for residence. Producers and consumers were members of organizations which were mostly agricultural in nature. In addition to the usual way of disposing products in the tabo, farm products were likewise obtained by middlemen direct from the farmers' farms a day before the scheduled market day or these are delivered by farmer producers to their homes or to designated places on or before tabo days. A seemingly flexible structure in the tabo had been observed wherein participants were not assigned permanent area to occupy since the kind of commodity they sell greatly determined their place of assignment. However, other vendors displayed their goods in any place within the tabo vicinity. Uncomfortable conditions such as lack of sheds to protect the tabo participants from the sun and rain during the selling and buying process was reported as the foremost problem encountered. Husbands were usually the tabo initiator among producer-and middlemen-respondents. The interaction observed among tabo participants is at a relatively depersonalized and business-like level. Vegetables, root crops, cereals, fruit, and tobacco were highly saleable. The big number of customers who flocked to the tabo motivated the producer and middlemen vendors to utilize it. The much lower prices in the tabo than in the public market enabled the consumer-respondents to accumulate some savings. Hence, the tabo had fulfilled some of the socio-economic needs of the individual.