Thursday, February 08, 2007
Gov't vows to run after unscrupulous veggie vendors
* Arroyo sends team to Cordilleras to look into assistance to be given to farmers whose crops were damaged by frost
* Senator, agriculture chief visit wholesale market in Quezon City to verify reports that the prices of vegetables have done up excessively
SENATOR Manuel "Mar" Roxas III on Wednesday warned traders not to raise the prices of vegetables excessively as he asked government agencies, specifically the Department of Agriculture (DA), to crack down on erring.
Roxas said sellers have no reason to unduly raise the prices of vegetables since the supply from Benguet remains ample.
Roxas conferred with vegetable vendors and traders at the Riverview Market in Balintawak, Quezon City, the largest wholesale (bagsakan) center of Cordillera vegetables in Metro Manila, to monitor the supply and prices.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap joined Roxas in the market visit.
There are reports that market prices of vegetables have gone up due to the cold temperature that Pagasa said will last until end of February.
The cold weather brought about frost, which had covered 100 hectares of vegetable farms in Atok, Kibungan, Mankayan and Bugulas in Benguet and Bauko in Mountain Province and resulted in the loss of P10 million worth of vegetables in the area.
"The cold weather is not an excuse for traders to raise the prices of vegetables," Roxas said after noting that vegetable prices in the market are priced three to five times higher compared to their farmgate prices.
He made the statement after hearing the report of Nestor Fongwan and Concepcion Balao, mayors of La Trinidad and Atok, Benguet, respectively on the vegetable supply situation in the province. The two mayors, accompanied by a group of farmers, joined Roxas in the market visit and they told the senator that vegetable production in Benguet remains stable and that prices have not moved up.
Roxas, who chairs the Senate committee on trade and commerce, said although farmgate prices of vegetables remain low, the market has registered unreasonable mark-ups by traders. He blamed this on the number of middlemen in the distribution chain.
"For example, the price of carrots in the farm is only about P6 per kilo but here in the market, it's about P20 per kilo. This is due to the fact that the carrots passes to from three to five hands in the distribution chain who al mark-up the product for profit," Roxas said.
Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered that a team from the DA be dispatched to the Cordilleras to determine the assistance needed in areas affected by the very cold weather.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Secretary Yap reported during the Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the towns of Mankayan, Buguias and Atok in Benguet were affected by the frost but it "was not really that wide-scale to affect millions of pesos worth of vegetables."
Ermita said in his weekly press conference that the affected farmers could be given special loans to be able to recoup their losses. He said the loans could be paid out with their future harvest.
He also said the assistance should be "immediate" in order to take advantage of the usual planting season of vegetables. (CPB/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (February 8, 2007 issue)
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