Wednesday, January 03, 2007 Farmers warn against P5B loss due to Chinese carrots
CORDILLERA would lose P5 billion if the government would remain indifferent to the farmers’ call to junk the importation of carrots from China.
An economic analysis done by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) regional office showed that the region’s carrot industry is valued at P5.3 billion, excluding the costs of inputs and other direct and indirect costs.
The Cordillera region produces carrots from over 4,000 hectares of farmland in the provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao.
Farmers stood firm against the entry of Chinese carrots into the country for fear of losing their livelihood. They opposed the supposed final draft of the Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) done on carrots from China, which was presented to concerned stakeholders at the Department of Agriculture (DA) main office.
The completion of the PRA draft would usher in the signing of an administrative order that promulgates the guidelines on carrot importation.
Economic loss due to importation is among the reasons that prodded farmers to ask the BPI to reconsider its endorsement of the PRA on Chinese carrots.
But experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) claimed that the economic aspect should not be discussed in the PRA but should be left with the DA for policy formulation.
The PRA merely dwells on the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for importation, the UP experts said.
Farmers and local officials, most of whom are from Benguet, did not agree with the recommendation of the PRA team to allow the entry of Chinese carrots.
The PRA team determined that the pests and diseases identified in the foreign crop have low to moderate risk of establishment and spread in the local agricultural environment. (Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex)
