Corona crisis in the Philippines, 'Take shoes, give chickens'

In the Philippines, as in many other parts of the world, the corona virus has caused people to have difficulty accessing daily necessities, including most food items. To make up for the shortfall, Filipinos exchanged kitchen utensils and children's toys on Facebook.

Similarly, a woman named Lorraine Empire bought a chicken online in exchange for her Nike shoes. She made the exchange on a website set up for that purpose, and several similar websites have been set up in the Philippines during the Corona virus epidemic.

Lorraine Amaperio has two children and her husband works part-time at a donut shop in Manila. Her husband's working hours have been cut short by the epidemic, and she now earns only 9,000 pesos, or $185 a month, half of which is spent on renting her apartment.

These exchange groups have provided solutions to many such people in Lorraine Empire and the Philippines during lockdown caused by the corona virus. There are currently 98 such groups active in the Philippines with thousands of members, according to AFP. Almost all of them started during the epidemic.

According to a recent study by i-Price Group, an online shopping provider, Google's search for the word "barter food" from the Philippines increased by 300% between May and April. An analysis of these barter groups, which have millions of members on Facebook, found that people were looking for food the most.

People post pictures of changing items on these groups and also write what they are looking for in return, then the price is discussed in the comments section. Empire Lorraine also exchanged baby milk bottles for these groups and a baby jacket for rice. They say that old things are hard to get but it is very easy to get food in exchange for goods.