AGGIE UPDATES

Low vegetable supply seen
DEXTER A. SEE

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The food security situation, now plagued by the rice crisis, is feared to turn worst as agriculture stakeholders in this province predict a shortage of vegetable supply in the coming months. They said the low vegetable supply will come as a result of the reduction in planting areas which is caused by the soaring prices of farm inputs. This is, in turn, caused by the endless increase in the prices of petroleum products in the world market.

Many farmers in this vegetable-producing province said they are forced to reduce their planting areas by as much as 50 percent because the prices of farm inputs have risen to levels beyond their capacity to shoulder.

Moreover, they said, the one-time fertilizer subsidy given to them by the Department of Agriculture is barely felt due to the more than 75 percent increase in the prices of farm inputs.

Benguet is the source of at least 80 percent of the country’s vegetable supply. The reduced production in the province is expected to result in the scarcity of vegetables in the market in the next few months.

Another cause of the low production of vegetables is the low level of the buying prices of the produce. This is a disincentive to the farmers who are encountering difficulty in meeting the high production cost, the stakeholders said. Because of this situation, many farmers are now forced to look for other sustainable sources of livelihood, aside from farming. Several farmers abandon farming and migrate to the urban areas which they see as greener pasture.

From a little over R1,000 per bag of fertilizer, the price of this vital farm input has doubled or even tripled in the last three months, "virtually killing the local vegetable industry," the stakeholders said.

While some farmers have decided to continue producing vegetables, they opted to reduce their planting areas by as much as 60 percent. The income from the reduced planting areas is just enough for the basic needs of their families, they said.

The remaining 40 percent of their land would be left idle for the meantime. Agri-business people in the province said the reduced production areas for vegetables in the current planting season would surely result in shortage of vegetable supply in the country in the next few months.

They feared that in this eventuality, smugglers might take advantage of the situation by bringing in cheap vegetables from China. If this happens, they said, the vegetable industry in this province might collapse.

If the national government does not act immediately to ease the burden caused by expensive farm inputs, the over 250,000 people engaged in vegetable growing would lose their primary source of livelihood.