FARMERS TO SELL CARROTS,
VEGGIES AT HALF THE PRICE
By Manny Piñol
Here is a warning to profiteers and vultures: Do not mess with government because it has the resources to run you out of business.
Barely three days after Typhoon Ompong left the country, vultures and profiteers are already making a killing again by increasing prices of vegetables coming from the Cordillera.
Yesterday, I learned that Carrots were sold at over P200 per kilo and Cabbage was over P120 per kilo.
These are the same Carrots and Cabbage sold at lower prices shortly before Typhoon Ompong ravaged Northern Luzon.
Believing that there will be less supplies because of the damage to roads leading to the vegetable production areas of the Cordillera, the profiteers and vultures have increased the prices two-fold.
I will not take this sitting down.
If the vultures and the profiteers who have long sucked the blood of our hapless consumers believe that happy days are here again for them, they are terribly wrong.
Tomorrow, the first plane-load of fresh vegetables from Mindanao will be arriving in Metro Manila.
The shipment includes Carrots, Cabbage, Potatoes, Brocolli, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Sili and others which will be sold at half the prevailing price in Metro Manila markets now.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has engaged a company which owns two B-727 Cargo Planes and the Department of National Defense (DND) which has C-130 cargo transport aircrafts to airlift vegetables, fish and fruits from Mindanao to supply the markets of Metro Manila.
Next week, at least six refrigerated containers of vegetables from Mindanao will be shipped to Metro Manila every week to beef up the supply and bring down the price.
Starting Friday, these vegetables, including dressed chicken, rice and fish, will be sold at very low prices in the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Compound in San Andres, Manila.
The DA TienDA Malasakit Food Outlets will be open every Friday and Saturday thereafter until prices in the market are stabilized.
Now, if the vultures and profiteers think that this is just a short-term action to neutralize their operations, they are in for a big shocking suprise.
The DA through its credit agency, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), will start releasing next week production loans to farmers in Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur and North Cotabato amounting to P250-M.
At P50,000 per hectare, the initial loan fund will mean 5,000 hectares of farms being developed to produce the vegetables needed by the market.
The DA will also extend loaning facilities to the highland vegetable producers in Cebu and Negros Oriental.
The DA is targeting to develop 50,000 hectares of new farms to produce enough vegetables.
By the middle of 2019, it is projected that these new areas, in addition to the vegetables produced in the Cordillera, will make the country self-sufficient in vegetables.
The vegetables produced under this program will be marketed by the farmers themselves so that they will earn more and the consumers will spend less.
The DA will initially have two major marketing centers for vegetables – one at the BPI Compound in Manila and another one at the DA Central Office Compound on Elliptical Road in Quezon City.
Then, we will spread out to other areas in Metro Manila by opening the DA TienDA Malasakit Stores in every barangay in coordination with the local government units.
So, here is my message to the vultures and profiteers:
If you think government is helpless, then you are terribly wrong.
This time we will teach you a lesson – Don’t mess with government.
(These are photos taken of the vegetables produced by farmers of Talakag, Bukidnon. Take note of the quality of their produce. Photos by DA RAFID X)
More Stories
Breadfruit Grows Fast In My Dreamed Food Forest!
From The Town Of Hornbills To The City Of Fruits & Highland Springs!
After A Learning Tour,