THE Cebu City Government assured that the supply of agricultural products remains sufficient even though heavy rains that hit Metro Cebu earlier this week had affected some of the city’s agricultural areas.

Joelito Baclayon, Cebu City agriculturist, said some farmers in the city were even reportedly experiencing oversupply of vegetables such as cucumbers and leafy vegetables because of the lack of demand.

With Covid-19 affecting many of the city’s urban barangays, some farmers were reportedly opting to sell their products along the Cebu Transcentral Highway or cater to walk-in buyers and wholesalers without going to the main markets.

The closure of some restaurants has also contributed to the oversupply of some vegetables, Baclayon added.

Earlier this week, more than P3 million worth of old mango trees were damaged in the mountain barangay of Mabini due to the heavy downpour last Sept. 15, 2020 and Sept. 16.

Around 205 mango trees were affected.

Baclayon had expected more crop damage to occur should the bad weather continue to occur.

Because of this, Baclayon has urged farmers in the city to register themselves to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) as a way to protect their livelihood.

For the farmers to get registered to PCIC, they need to secure an acknowledgement from the City Agriculture Department (CAD) that they are a farmer and barangay certification of where they are planting their crops.

“We are campaigning to them to avail of crop insurance so they can be compensated should their crops be damaged during calamities,” Baclayon said, in Cebuano.

He also urged the farmers to enrol themselves to the CAD office so the City can immediately respond in case there are problems in the mountain barangays.

Baclayon said there are currently 5,000 farmers in the city.

The CAD is also pushing for more farmers’ markets in each barangay so the residents do not need to go to large markets in the city like the Carbon Public Market to buy produce.

Baclayon said so far the CAD has established farmers’ markets in Barangays Tisa, Basak and at the Il Corso at the South Road Properties.

He said the farmers’ market can help the farmers as they get to sell their products without the need to go through middle sellers.

The consumers are also assured that the produce being sold are clean and fresh.

Ceiling prices are also being imposed to ensure there is no overpricing, Baclayon added. (JJL)