Benguet farmers lose P2.5M daily due to influx of smuggled carrots —group

Farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, are losing an average of P2.5 million daily since the start of 2022 because of agricultural smuggling, an officer of the League of Association at the LA Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas said Monday.

At a Senate hearing, Agot Balanoy, the association's public relations officer, said the volume of smuggled carrots has doubled from 20% in 2021 to 40% this year despite the claims that there are confiscations being conducted by the government agencies.

“Starting last year, the decline of our orders coming from the different key markets declined to 20 to 40 percent. So, last year, 20 percent lang, but this year, because the volume of the smuggled carrots [has] doubled, nag-doble na rin po ‘yung decrease ng orders [the decrease of orders has also doubled],” Balanoy said.

“So the monetary value of this percentage, at an average, is equivalent to P2.5 million per day, which is a loss on the part of the farmers,” she added.

Balanoy told the Senate that consumers prefer to buy vegetables from China as these crops could be preserved for two months as compared to the local products that can only last for two to three days.

“So these are another effect of the smuggling. There are a lot of unsold local or Benguet carrots in the markets because they — our consumers or our buyers in the end market — prefer to buy the smuggled carrots coming from China mainly because according to the consumers, the China carrots can be stored for two months and it will not be destroyed while our Benguet carrots are easily destroyed within two to three days,” she said.

“There are a lot of local carrots that are being dumped.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said authorities should look at the possibility that these imported vegetables contain chemicals to extend its shelf life.

“Isa sa mga dapat malaman, yung mga carrots na galing sa abroad or imported or smuggled, usually smuggled kaya tumatagal ng dalawang buwan yun, may gamot yun. Kaya hindi nila dapat binibili,” he said.

(One of the things that we should know is if these imported or smuggled carrots contain chemicals that is why these can be preserved for two months.)

The Senate Committee of the Whole is investigating the proliferation of smuggled agricultural products in the Philippine market.

The panel is also looking into the issues in the Bureau of Customs that are related to the smuggling of crops. —KBK, GMA News