LOCAL leaders are aggressively pushing for an agenda of getting ready to keep Benguet's reputation as the country's salad bowl in light of a looming industry overhaul in the next few years due to free trade.
But am not sure if the farmers are listening. Either they find the open access too far from their comfort or that they are simply busy trading their crops at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post. Or they could be simply contented of the status quo, forever bound to a trading system lorded over by middlemen. This is quite dangerous. The farmers, or the local vegetable industry itself, might find their pants still down when their captive market will no longer be exclusively theirs. The howls of the past against vegetable smuggling are laudable. But when one speaks of free trade, the farmers can't seem to connect. Or even if they are conscious about it, the efforts to get ready are short. I assume Gov. Nestor Fongwan and the other reliable leaders are slowly getting frustrated and hapless. I understand. The Gov will not surely want history to judge him as a fence sitter.
The Gov was emphatic when he said that the National Vegetable Congress, which the province will host from Nov. 21 to 23, should become a forum for stakeholders in the industry to address the effects of free trade. Something must take form to cushion the impact of trade liberalization, he said.
The Gov is just being practical. I agree when he said that there is no way the government and the farmers can prevent free trade. The country's free trade commitments are inked in several treaties and to renege from our obligations might result to complications we do not wish to confront. The sanction could be worse. The country can be blacklisted in the international market. The most practical option we have left is to integrate and compete. But can our farmers compete? And are they ready in the first place?
Free trade has two major components - the lifting of import quotas and the gradual reduction of tariff. Once these are in place, foreign cheap potatoes or carrots will be displayed side by side with Benguet "patatas" and "kalots."
Am curious on how the Benguet Farmers Marketing Cooperative is faring at the moment. The entity was launched as a flagship project of the Gov to jumpstart measures designed to provide farmers some ammunition to combat the ill effects of a highly competitive business climate to be brought about by free trade.
Of course the usual trade regulations should still be there in order to prevent a wholesale of the domestic market, like undergoing sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions. I vividly remember the quid pro quo the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) assured Benguet farmers in a highly charged stakeholders meeting at the Bureau of Plant and Industry (BPI) in Manila years ago. The BOC assured the DA that it will provide the department copies of the so called inward forward manifests (IFMs) on vegetable imports so that the DA can check if the declared imported crops are what they purport to be and not some onions or garlic. In fact, the BOC cannot deny that there are other agricultural sectors critical of the bureau's perceived inability to get into the throats of illegal imports and rampant smuggling. Like Benguet officials, they are also adamant to secure copies of the inward forward manifests (IFMs). This trade document contains vital information on imported items, the shipper's identity, the ports of origin and to whom they should be delivered.
The Gov and the BFMC must convene the farmers. They must also submit a report card to the provincial board. And let's get some heads there cracking. (yanikarensly@yahoo.com)