Farmers pin hope on task force vs veggie smuggling

By Liza Agoot 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Vegetable farmers and traders in the province are hopeful that the Senate-led anti-vegetable smuggling task force will address the illegal entry of agricultural products into the country, a problem hounding the farming sector, especially in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
    During an interview on Friday, Augusta Balanoy of the Federation of Cooperative of Benguet Farmers and Traders in La Trinidad said, “Sa tingin namin magiging epektibo iyon dahil ire-revive lang namin iyong dating ginagawa namin noon which is a partnership ng government and private sector (We think this will be effective because we will just revive what we have been doing in the past, a partnership between government and private sector).”
    During the Senate hearing on vegetable smuggling last week, Balanoy said Senate president Vicente Sotto III committed to creating a Senate-led task force to address the smuggling of vegetables like carrots, broccoli, onion leeks, celery, which are mostly produced in the region, aside from garlic, onions, and ginger.
    She said the private sector, which is heavily affected by vegetable smuggling, has committed to give its full support to the government to stop the illegal activity.
    “We did that before and it has been effective before and there is no reason na hindi siya magiging epektibo and besides yun lang ang nakikita namin na glimmer of hope as of now (there is no reason it will not become effective and it is the only glimmer of hope as of now),” she added.
    Based on statistics from the Dept. of Agriculture, Cordillera trades about 2 million kilograms of assorted vegetables daily. About 85 percent of this is produced in Benguet.
    Balanoy said in the past, vegetable producers would submit their smuggling complaints to government agencies like the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Plant and Industry (BPI), which in turn conduct an inspection of cold storage facilities, carry out confiscation if necessary, and file appropriate cases.
    Based on experience, Balonoy said smugglers usually lie low for about two to three years whenever smuggling complaints are brought to the attention of the government.
    Balanoy said that for the last nine months, farmers have lost a monthly average of around P2.5 million from vegetable smuggling.
    “Hindi cash ang sistema. Uutangin ng traders sa farmers, pag hindi nila nabenta, hindi sila makakabayad sa farmers. Si farmer naman, malulubog na din sa utang kasi hanggang ngayon mayroon pa rin mga hindi nakabayad sa kanila kaya nahihirapan ang mga nasa industry (The transaction is not in cash. The traders get the products and when they are not able to sell these, they cannot pay the farmer who, in turn, cannot pay off their loans. Some farmers have yet to be paid back by traders. And this is giving those in the industry a hard time.),” Balanoy said.
    While the problem persists, Balanoy appealed to the government to provide soft loans to farmers and traders, and coursing the money through cooperatives.
    “There are many farmers who have run out of capital and they must continue to produce so that there will be sufficient food,” Balanoy said.
    She added that while some farmers are considering stopping planting vegetables that usually get smuggled, they have no choice but to plant these and follow the crop rotation prescribed under good agricultural practices to protect their farmlands and the quality of their vegetables. -- PNA