Baguio City, Philippines – Department of Agriculture-Cordillera clarified on Monday, May 30, 2022, that the prevailing price for good carrots in Benguet is not 10 pesos a kilo and that the said price was only set by some farmers to avoid spoilage and overstay in the trading center.
The explanation by DA-CAR came after a Facebook post of a concerned citizen about Benguet farmers selling carrots for P10 per kilogram caught the attention of netizens, sharing it 1,200 times on Facebook on May 28, 2022, due to unavailability of buyers at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy and Trading Center and La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post.
In a press release of DA, it was mentioned that buyers would usually go to the trading centers with preferred quality in mind, which includes freshness, size of the veggie, and unblemished physical appearance. This is in consideration of the current market demands.
As a result, veggies not meeting the standard of buyers stay unsold, but would eventually be sold at a lower price the next day.
With this, the DA explained that the farmers selling their produce at P10 per kilogram sold their produce outside major trading centers to avoid spoilage and overstay in the trading centers.
“One of them is Ms. Daisy Agapito, cousin of Mr. Elmer Empil from Batan, Kabayan, Benguet who resorted to selling the latter’s remaining carrots through an online platform, particularly Facebook. The post has gained attention on social media after the unselected carrots (palaspasan) were sold at a bargain price of P10 pesos per kilogram (kg),” they wrote.
Agapito’s account in selling carrots at P10 per kilogram
Accordingly, Agapito told the DA-AMAD personnel that the carrots posted online were the remaining unsold produce of his cousin from the La Trinidad trading centers.
She narrated that they harvested two truckloads of carrots, which they immediately brought to the trading center last May 26 of which, the first truckload was completely bought on the same day, while the other truck was sold the next day, but with some unsold ones, from which those with better quality were selected.
Further, as her cousin needs to go back to the farm to ferry another load of vegetables, Agapito said that Empil entrusted his produce to her. She then looked for buyers to sell it at the same price until May 28, but was not bought.
To resolve possible spoilage of the carrots, Agapito decided to sell them at a lower price in Cabanao, Balili, La Trinidad and used her Facebook account to help her sell them faster. At around 1 PM, the carrots were sold out.
“The story of Mr. Empil and Ms. Agapito shows how enterprising farmers are in selling their produce, avoid spoilage, and get the maximum profit,” DA-CAR said.
Meantime, DA also informed that the wholesale price range for carrots remains constant and that no significant changes in price were noted in the past weeks.
Based on data from DA-CAR’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), the price for carrots for May 24 is P25-P40, May 25 – P20-P26, May 26 – P10-25, and May 27 – P20-P23.
Further, they claimed that ‘there was no significant increase in traded volumes of agricultural commodities in the past week wherein, a total of 240.75 Metric tons were traded daily on the average from May 24-27’.
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