CONSUMERS SWOOP DOWN
ON MINDANAO VEGETABLES
By Manny Piñol
Metro Manila consumers, some arriving as early as 5 a.m. today, literally swooped down on vegetables and fruits from Mindanao and cleaned up the TienDA Vegetable Festival at the Bureau of Plant Industry Compound in Manila in only six hours.
About 20 tons of vegetables, including fruits, fish, sugar and rice were sold out with some consumers complaining that they were not able to buy enough.
It was an unexpected reaction by consumers to a program by the Department of Agriculture to bring vegetables from Mindanao to address rising prices in Metro Manila.
Following the destruction by Typhoon Ompong of rice, corn and vegetable farms in Northern Luzon, speculators and profiteers attempted to manipulate prices.
Carrots were sold at P400 per kilo while Cabbage was sold for over P200 per kilo.
The DA engaged farmers from the towns of Impasugong, Talakag, Sumilao and Lantapan (IMTASULA) and brought in fresh vegetables from the four towns.
When the first shipment of vegetables arrived from Mindanao, prices of Carrots in Metro Manila plummeted from as high as P400 per kilo to only P150 today.
The DA TienDA will continue tomorrow with another 20 metric tons of vegetables and fruits coming from Davao and Bukidnon.
Next week, the regular shipment of vegetables will start to supply the market and bring down prices.
An estimated 60 tons of vegetables will be brought in Mindanao weekly.
This will become a regular program with the DA providing loans and equipment so that farmers will be able to produce more.
(Photos by Alan Jay Jacalan DA OSEC.
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