The Department of Agriculture - Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is implementing interventions to thwart the reported dumping of tomato products in provinces in the region, a DA-CAR Public Information Officer said on Friday, Dec. 8.
Interviewed during DZRH Damdaming Bayan, DA-CAR Public Information Officer Jonathan Llanes mentioned that they are providing local farmers the means to transport the leftover tomatoes.
“Ang kagawaran ng agrikultura ay nauna nang gumawa ng mga interventions, particular na yung pamamahagi ng truck at yung lalagyanan ng kanilang mga agri products sa pag-transport ng mga produkto,” he said.
In addition to this, Llanes said they are implementing market matching to sell the tomato products.
“Hinahanapan ng kagawaran ng institutional buyers at magiging bagsakan ng mga magsasaka ng mga produkto,” the DA-CAR official explained.
Jonathan Llanes, DA-CAR Public Information Officer, sa naiulat na pagtatapon ng kamatis sa Nueva Vizcaya: Galing sa Ifugao yung supply ng kamatis sapagkat ito ang nagsu-supply ng mga produktong kamatis dito sa Nueva Vizcaya agri trading center.
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) December 8, 2023
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In Nueva Vizcaya, farmers are throwing tomatoes in a dump as seen in the video posted by truck driver, John Dexter Solis on Facebook last Dec. 5.
According to RH Grace Sansano’s report, Nueva Vizcaya farmers dumped hundreds of kilos of tomatoes due to oversupply and the drop in farm gate prices.
The farm gate prices of tomatoes reportedly went as low as P5 to P6 per kilo in Nueva Vizcaya.
Mga kamatis ng mga magsasaka itinapon na lang dahil sa dami ng ani at bagsak na presyo nito sa Nueva Vizcaya | RH 25 Grace Sansano#DosPorDos#SamaSamaTayoPilipino
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) December 7, 2023
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The DA-CAR official confirmed that the dumping of tomatoes in Nueva Vizcaya has reached them.
"Actually, ayan ay hinarvest ng ating magsasaka at nagtagal sa labas ng mahigit limang araw nang walang bumibili. Ayun ang naiparating sa atin kaya kumbaga, nadagdagan nang nadaganan yung na-harvest na kamatis," Llanes said.
"Naitaon na walang bumibili. Meron silang tambakan diyan sa Nueva Vizcaya kung saan piniling lugar ng ating mga magsasaka ng kamatis upang paglagyan ng mga kamatis na hindi nabenta," he added.
Rural Rising Philippines had raised the wastage of tomatoes in a Facebook post last Dec. 6, saying that farmers have been throwing away what they called sleep tomatoes or “tomatoes that have been passed on by buyers” and “tomatoes that have spent a day and a night waiting for naught.”
“Isang piraso lang na kamatis galing sa tinapong bundok na ito, isang tao na ang kakain dito sa Metro Manila. Sayang ang pagkain, sayang ang pinag-paguran, sobrang sakit ang kawalan,” the group pointed out.
It cited a report that more than 200,000 kilos of tomatoes were discarded in “one bagsakan” or one dumping.
Ruling Rising Philippines then appealed to the public to support the distressed Tomato farmers of Tinoc, Ifugao; Kabayan, and Atok in Benguet; and Dupax del Norte Nueva Vizcaya by buying 10 kilos of tomatoes for P350.
“This is a series of rescues that RuRi hopes would alleviate the plight of our farmers by buying the Tomatoes at the price they need,” it said.
