When we talk about Carbon Market, the discussion too often centers on infrastructure — bricks, stalls, modernization, redevelopment. But to understand its true economic role, we have to move beyond the physical structure and look at the value chains that give it meaning. From an economist’s and urban planner’s perspective, Carbon Market is not simply a venue; it is a distribution hub, a transaction institution, and a key node where multiple food supply chains converge.
From Farms and Fisheries to City Plates
Academic research helps explain why this matters.
In the Central Philippines, vegetable supply chains are highly vulnerable to losses. Studies show that up to 30–40% of vegetable produce can be lost before it reaches consumers — losses that occur because of poor transport infrastructure, multiple intermediaries, inadequate cold storage, and fragmented market access. These inefficiencies translate into lost income for farmers and higher prices for consumers. (ResearchGate: “Supply chain losses of vegetables in Central Philippines”)
Separately, research into the fish trade in Cebu City highlights how the flow of seafood from producers to consumers is shaped by a complex web of traders, processors, auction markets, and retail outlets. The study illustrates that fish supply chains are highly relational: small fishers depend on buyers who bring their catch into the city, while consumers depend on urban markets to provide diversity, quality, and affordability. (ResearchGate: “The Dynamics of the Fish Trade in Cebu City”)
These findings are not abstract. They confirm something we see every day: food supply in cities like Cebu depends on efficient, accessible, and well-functioning distribution nodes. Carbon Market is one of the most important of these.
Carbon Market as an Institutional Hub
The UP CIDS study on inclusive agricultural value-chain models makes a central point: markets are not neutral transactional spaces. They are institutions — systems of practices, rules, norms, and networks that shape how producers, intermediaries, and consumers interact. When these institutions function well, they lower transaction costs, reduce uncertainties, and give small producers real access to buyers. When the institutions fail, producers are forced into exploitative arrangements, risk losses, and see declining returns on their labor and investment. (UP CIDS)
This institutional perspective helps us understand Carbon Market not just as a physical place, but as an enabling environment for exchange — a hub where logistics, finance, information, and relationships come together.
Why Changes to Carbon Market Disrupt Food Supply Chains
When the character of Carbon Market changes — whether through redevelopment, commercialization, privatization, or regulatory transformation — the effects are rarely neutral. Instead, they reshape the very value chains that feed the city.
Here’s how the available evidence explains this:
1. Supply Chain Losses Are Real and Costly
Vegetable supply chains in the Central Philippines already experience significant losses before produce ever reaches consumers. Any disruption to a major distribution node like Carbon Market — which serves as a point of aggregation and redistribution — will likely exacerbate these losses unless deliberate efficiency and preservation mechanisms are put in place. (ResearchGate: Vegetable losses study)
2. Fisheries Trade Relies on Complex Networks
Fish traders in Cebu City rely on established channels to bring catch from coastal producers into the urban market. Carbon Market participates in this web of relationships — sanctioning trust, pricing norms, and informal arrangements that help balance risk between fishers, buyers, and sellers. Disrupting these networks without substituting effective alternatives increases uncertainty and costs within the entire system. (ResearchGate: Fish trade dynamics)
3. Institutional Voids Hurt Small Actors
The UP CIDS research underscores that without strong market institutions — whether formal contracts or informal norms — small producers get squeezed by intermediaries who set terms, capture rents, and limit market access. When Carbon Market’s institutional role changes without careful planning, these “institutional voids” can widen, leaving small farmers and fishers worse off. (UP CIDS)
Who Bears the Costs?
The outcomes of institutional disruption are not distributed equally:
- Smallholder farmers and fishers lose affordable access to markets and often face higher transaction costs.
- Vendors and micro-processors face barriers from rising rents, increased compliance costs, or loss of informal financial arrangements.
- Consumers — especially low- and middle-income households — face higher prices and reduced access to fresh produce and fish.
This is not speculative. The weight of evidence from multiple studies — in vegetables, fisheries, and institutional economics — shows that food distribution systems are sensitive. They can be improved, but only if redesign respects existing networks and preserves inclusivity.
What Responsible Planning Looks Like
If the goal is to modernize or upgrade Carbon Market — a goal many stakeholders share — it must be guided by principles that reflect its role in multiple value chains:
- Maintain space for small producers. Institutional support — from vendor cooperatives to flexible credit arrangements — must remain part of the market’s design.
- Invest in logistics and preservation. Cold storage, loading bays, and organized wholesale operations can help reduce supply chain losses.
- Strengthen institutions, not dismantle them. Formal contracts, transparent pricing systems, and data-driven logistics can complement — not replace — the informal norms that give small actors agency.
- Protect consumer access. Any redevelopment must safeguard affordability and access for regular marketgoers.
Carbon Market as Food-System Infrastructure
Carbon Market is more than a collection of stalls. It is a critical node in the regional food system — an institution that connects farms and fisheries to city plates, mediates relationships and prices, and anchors the everyday flow of goods.
Decisions about its future must go beyond aesthetics or real estate valuations. They must be grounded in economic reality, allied with evidence from supply-chain research, and centered on inclusion. Only then can Carbon Market evolve in a way that strengthens, rather than weakens, the economic ecosystem it supports.
Carbon Market is food-system infrastructure.
Treating it as mere real estate risks undermining Cebu’s food security, livelihoods, and urban resilience.
Agosto is an economist, urban planner, and a practicing real estate professional. His work examines how markets, land, and urban systems shape everyday livelihoods, with a particular focus on public finance, inclusive development, and the public-interest role of urban infrastructure.
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