Monday, December 22, 2008 Davao can't afford to export vegetables
THE Vegetable Council in Southern Mindanao revealed that Davao Region could not afford to export vegetable products to other countries, saying the production of the region is not even enough for local consumption.
In an interview, Roger Gualberto, former chair of the Southern Mindanao Vegetable Council, told Sun.Star Davao that Davao City alone consumes 288,000 kilos of vegetables a day based on a survey conducted in 2004.
He said the demand for vegetables have already went up considering that Davao City's population reached 1.6 million.
"We really have a shortage. This is because of conversion of vegetable areas to other agricultural crops particularly banana. Even our rice areas have decreased because of banana conversion," Gualberto said.
He further said that though banana is still an agricultural crop, it has a negative impact to the community particularly to job generation.
Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said he is not against conversion of rice areas or other agricultural crops to banana plantation.
Gualberto does not agree with the idea, saying a hectare of banana could only employ one person compared to a hectare of vegetable, which can employ at least four.
He said the council could not estimate as to how big is the land planted with vegetables in the region today, saying the quantity could not be measured by land area, but by hill or plant.
"You cannot quantify it by land area because in a hectare, farmers usually do not plant a single variety of vegetable. Sa isang hectare, there are different kinds planted on different portions. Unlike for banana and coconut, vegetables are harvested. For rice, when it is harvested, farmers can plant another, but still rice. The area planted with cabbage for example, will be replaced by another variety after 60 to 70 days, so you cannot really quantify vegetables by land area," Gualberto said. (JGRS)
