Farmers cooperatives urged: Expand for ASEAN trade

By Dexter A. See 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Farmers cooperatives in the province must continue widening their membership and expanding their areas of coverage in order to allow locally produced agricultural crops to sustain the stiff competition during the implementation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade next year, Gov. Nestor Fongwan said here Wednesday.

Fongwan said the direct impact of the zero tariff on goods and services cannot be solved by the individual farmers but it could be addressed by the combined efforts of the agriculture industry stakeholders through cooperativism.

He said it is high time for farmers to adopt crop programming to be able to guarantee the year-round supply of semi-temperate vegetables which will be able to compete in the global trade.

“Our farmers must already secure the certification from concerned government agencies that they already practice good agricultural practices from the production areas to the post-harvest operations so that their produce will be able to make it to the international market,” Fongwan said.

He admitted the major problem confronting local farmers cooperatives is the inability of the groups to sustain the supply of highland vegetables to both wet market and high-end consumers, thus, the need for them to widen their membership and expand their areas of coverage to be able to ensure consistent supply of vegetables for a period of 376 days and beyond.

With a bigger capital, the governor explained cooperatives will be able to provide value added to their produce and ensure their marketability in the international market considering that local agricultural crops are much fresher, juicer, crispier and sweeter compared to the same highland vegetables, particularly cabbage, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, peas, cauliflower, beans, pepper among others, which come from other neighboring countries.

He said farmers who are GAP-certified will be the priority farmers whose products will be shipped to other neighboring countries in order to be sold and compete with other international products, thus, farmers must make sure that they observe quality and food safety from the selection of seeds to be planted, judicious use of fertilizers and pesticides, proper sanitation in the agricultural areas, proper harvesting techniques to avoid severe damages, proper storage among other post-harvest operations and marketing.

In terms of health and sanitation, agriculture experts recommended to farmers to build their own toilets or cluster of toilets in their farms in order to prevent human waste from being washed through the fields and that animals should also not be allowed in the production areas to prevent animal waste from being mixed with their produce.

Benguet is still producer of at least 80 percent of the highland vegetables being sold in the different parts of the country and that the local vegetable industry provides livelihood to over 250,000 individuals in the 13 vegetable-producing municipalities.

Loreto Boyaan, an official of the Benguet Farmers Federation, said it is high time for vegetable farmers to work as a group and combat the expected negative effects of the ASEAN free trade by pooling their resources and putting value added to their produce by being able to properly package their products for the stiffer competitions in the global market.

“We have to face the problems of the ASEAN free trade squarely because we know are produce can compete in terms of quality. It is only in the packaging and marketing where we have to improve,” Boyaan stressed.

Boyaan appealed to fellow farmers and cooperatives in the province to get their acts together in order to help them combat the serious negative effects of the free trade to their produce considering that pricing will be one of the major problems that they will encounter, thus, the need for government agencies to help in reducing the prices of farm inputs in order to help lower the selling price of their end products.

He said government must consider providing initial subsidy to the farmers in order to sustain their abundant produce which will be enough to meet the quality and pricing demands of the global market.