BAD weather has spiked vegetable prices in the north.
Augusta Balanoy, Benguet Farmers Marketing Cooperative general manager said harvesting schedule at the farm's has been hampered due to the continuous rain.
“It’s the weather. A lot of vegetable quality has been affected too, 1st class turned to 2nd class, thus, affecting the volume. May mga few farms na natabunan mga pananim due to landslide," she added.
Compounding the problem is the open-close situation of roads in the province and temporary closure of Marcos Highway last week.
"The open-close road situation at the secondary roads and Halsema Highway also affected arrival of vegetables at the tradng areas in la trinidad, likewise affecting prices," she said.
As of Monday, August 20, wholesale prices for repolyo are at P24 to P30; potato at P25 to P30; wombok at P40 to P50 and carrots at P50 to P95.
"Di man kataasan yang repolyo at patatas. Last week, umabot ng P30 lang ang carrot, P25 naman ang wombok. The thing is, yung mga retailers sa Metro Manila are taking advantage of the situation," Balanoy added.
Another factor added Balanoy is damage of farms and seeds due to continuous monsoon.
Damage for newly planted leafy vegetables today is seen to reach 50 percent but may increase to 60 percent until harvest time.
For root crops, a 70 percent damage is expected while for harvestable vegetables like cabbage, there is a 30 percent expected damage and 60 percent for wombok.
Balanoy said potato crops are all ready for harvest and damage on leaves does not affect matured root crops.