Central Luzon drops tons of vegetables in Metro Manila
Balintawak, Quezon City – The Department of Agriculture (DA) made a visit to the farmer travelers from Bulacan under the leadership of Secretary William Dar, Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness Kristine Evangelista, Undersecretary for Operations and Agri-Fisheries Mechanization Engr. Ariel Cayanan, Regional Director of Central Luzon Crispulo Bautista and Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) Chief Fernando Lorenzo on January 27th at Juliana Market.
The Bulacan Farmers Agricultural Cooperative located in San Ildefonso, Bulacan is one of the suppliers of fresh vegetables in the market. Every day, Bulacan drops approximately 90 MT of lowland vegetables in the Metro Manila market. With their rise, they avoid middleman and vegetable prices get lower because wholesalers and retailers buy their crops directly.
The Chairperson of Bulacan Farmers Agricultural Cooperative Daisy Duran is encouraging the customers. ′′ If you want to taste cheap vegetables, there are KADIWA outlets where farmers are directly selling their crops and we follow the suggested retail price set by the Department of Agriculture,” ani Duran.
′′ Vegetable prices should not be increased because there is enough supply from different provinces like Bulacan,” said Kalim Dar.
Secretary Dar stated that the decrease in vegetable supply in the National Capital Region (NCR) that caused the increase in vegetable prices is the result of the previous storms experienced by different regions.
′′ Our farmers were affected by the storm last November and planted in December, now harvesting is starting so they can supply their products again here in NCR, along with the decrease in prices,” Dar added.
Apart from this, the Secretary announced that they will contact the Philippine Competition Commission to investigate the traders and sellers selling more than the suggested retail price set by DA.