Smuggling cause of poor vegetable sales from Benguet; gov't task force needed - traders

Smuggling is the main reason behind the low sales of local vegetables in Benguet, according to a local traders group in Benguet on Wednesday.

"Hindi lang naman siya oversupply, tama lang 'yung production. 'Yun nga lang mababa 'yung demand," said Aya Balanoy, spokesperson of the League of Associations of the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Area in a GTV Balitanghali interview.

(It's not oversupply, there’s nothing wrong with production. However, the demand has been low.)

Balanoy said the situation is caused by the presence of smuggled produce such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onion leeks and celery that compete with local vegetables.

“Tapos 'yung ano po, 'yung mga iba po na buyers na aakyat sana na bibili dito sa amin, hindi na bumili dito sa amin kasi diyan lang eh, kumbaga 'yung pera nila inikot na nila, pinambili na nila ng imported na gulay instead of coming up here,” she added.

(What happens is buyers who would have come here to buy from us don't do so anymore, they've already bought imported vegetables instead of coming up here.)

She said farmers anticipated the daily supply of 1.5 to 1.7 million kilos daily would be doubled in December since it is considered the peak season.

“However, itong December po na ito, hindi po nag-doble 'yung demand, so nag-increase lang po ng 30 to 40% kaya marami po 'yung mga hindi na-harvest dito. Hindi po mga nabili na mga gulay dito,” she said.

(However, demand did not double this December, it has only increased by 30 to 40%, so a lot of produce was not harvested.)

“Kaya ito po, 'yung mga hindi nabili noong December kaya 'yung mga nakikita niyo po na mga pinapamigay na mga repolyo, mga wombok, mga gano'n po, especially 'yung mga 'yan na vegetables po, 'yan 'yung mga na-overgrown na po doon sa farm kaya masyado silang malalaki, mga pangit na 'yung quality. Kasi 'yung first class naman ay nabibili naman po,” she noted.

(So the vegetables that weren't sold last December, the ones you've seen being given away are— the cabbages, wombok (napa cabbage), among other vegetables, these have become overgrown in the farms that gotten too big and not good quality. But we were able to sell the first class produce.)

Earlier this week,farmers dumped hundreds of cabbages by a roadside in Tublay, Benguet after traders refused to buy the vegetables.

Balanoy mentioned there were no problems transporting vegetables to different markets.

Meanwhile, the smuggling issue has been reported to the Department of Agriculture for action.

Local traders said they requested concerned government agencies since last year to create a national level anti-smuggling task force to go address the smuggled goods but have yet to see any move in this regard.

“Pero up to now, wala pa kaming nare-receive galing sa taas kung ano po ang reaction po nila doon. Of course, everybody doesn't want na maulit po ito pero sa regional office po namin dito sa Department of Agriculture, tumulong po sila sa marketing. Pero 'yun po, band-aid solution po 'yun so sabi nga po namin, 'yung long term solution diyan is bantayan 'yung smuggled goods para mabawasan po 'yung kalaban noong mga local produce na binebenta namin,” Balanoy said.

(Until now, we haven't received anything from top officials about their reaction to our request. Of course, everybody doesn't want this to happen again but at our regional office here at the Department of Agriculture, they help with marketing. But it's only a band-aid solution. The long-term solution is to stop the entry of smuggled goods to reduce the competition for our local produce that we sell.)—Sherylin Untalan