DA Farmers’ Co-ops Program Production, Improve Marketing of Highland Vegetables
Productions of rice, fruits, and vegetables in the Philippines have been reportedly increasing for the past years and yet, there’s a, food crisis in the country today.
There are many reasons why there is. In the case of highland vegetables, shortage of supply temporarily happens when there is a typhoon and harvests are not delivered to the markets. On the other hand, preventing oversupply of vegetables is also a challenge. Farmers tend to produce the same vegetables and these results in a glut or periodic oversupply.
What should be done to ensure a steady supply of highland vegetables at affordable prices, prevent oversupply, and increase the profit of farmers is to come up with a production programming and an improved marketing system. And these are what the Department of Agriculture (DA), groups of highland vegetable farmers, and traders are doing right now.
Through its High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC) program, DA has already started organizing farmers in Benguet, Mt. Province, and Ifugao into commodity production clusters early this year. In their third meeting in Atok, Benguet on May 27, these farmers have agreed to schedule their planting of five major highland vegetables such as potato, carrots, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, and broccoli.
They are expecting to harvest 2,414 tons of potatoes from 142 hectares, 1,980 tons of carrots from 110 ha, 1,200 tons of Chinese cabbage from 110 ha, 350 tons of lettuce from 50 ha, and 594 tons of broccoli from 54 ha. To realize these, the HVCC program will provide farmers with seeds, fertilizers, rain shelters or greenhouses, irrigation facilities, and other farm equipment.
Meanwhile, DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service continues to organize, link, and rationalize vegetable marketing through out the country, particularly in Barangay Food Terminals and Bagsakan Centers. Due to this, the demand for vegetable in Metro Manila alone has tremendously increased in the last two years.
DA’s Regional Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), on the other hand, is working with two cooperatives under the Marketing Cooperative of Benguet Farmers (MACOBEFAR) that wanted to pursue a rationalized production programming and marketing for highland vegetables. These are the Benguet Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Incorporated (BMPCI) and Benguet-based Tinakday Cooperative, which directly sells vegetables at the South Station in Alabang.
These cooperatives, says AMAD Chief Pat Ananayo, are making arrangements to sell vegetables in Romblon and Mindoro through Filinvest, and in Cebu through the Philippine International Trading Center.
On the other hand, the primary objective of MACOBEFAR, says its chairman, Manuel Sipol, is to unify producers and program their production to ensure a steady supply of vegetables.
It has also came up with a sound pricing formula for vegetables, which is expected to be a good strategy that will increase sales. Likewise, BMPCI Chairman Dr. Alumno Ampaguey points out, it will also increase vegetable consumption, which is “currently very low at 35 kg-40 kg per person annually.”
Hopefully, DA and these cooperatives would work things out for the ultimate realization of these efforts, concludes Bernard Paleng of the Benguet Farmers Federation Incorporated and MACOBEFAR, adding that it is “a good legacy to our children and to the vegetable industry.”
