Prices of tomato and cabbage in General Santos City have gone down due to oversupply.

Tomatoes are now sold at P20 per kilo from P80 per kilo in the previous months.

Cabbage, on the other hand, is sold at P20 per kilo from P35 per kilo.

“Barato kaayo ang gulay sir. Yung sa December, P80 plus pataas (kamatis). Yung nag-January na, bumaba na talaga. Yung repolyo, P20 lang din po, sir. Last December, January, 35 (pesos/kilo),” a vendor, Marjelly Demioy, said.

Several boxes of tomatoes owned by a farmer, Michael Nagamos, have piled up at the City Food Terminal as he could not sell them at a high price because the current buying price is low.

“Atong January, nag-ano pa mi, dos mil (P2,000) per crate… ngayon, pila na lang)… P350 plus tracking pa namon sa truck, lugi na kaayo sir, grabe na kaayo ang among pag-uma karon, volume ang lagting sa kada area,” Michael Nagamos, a farmer, said.

On the other hand, some sacks of cabbage have also not been sold for several days at the Bagsakan Center.

“Ato pa ning isa ka adlaw, wala mahalin hangtod karon. Dati P55 per kilo, karon otso na lang kilo,” farmer, Inday Donaire, said.

According to the City Agriculturist’s Office, farmers from neighboring areas who harvested their tomatoes and cabbage at the same time may have caused the oversupply.

“Usually, harvest time na man gud so ang Gensan trading hub man gud siya so ang mga farmers nga naga tanum og kamatis ug repolyo from other places diha usually ginabagsak sa atung bagsakan area. Kung daghan diha karun buot pasabot daghan pud sa ubang area nag harvest na,” Acting City Agriculturist, Elsie Villanueva, said.

“Ang isa pud sa ginahimo sa farmer ang basis sa pagtanum nila usually is kung taas ang presyo pero of course ang taas nga presyo karon dili mana siya sure pag-harvest nimo, taas ang presyo. So, therefore, upon harvest, sila pud sabay sabay magbagsak dito sa ginabaligyaan nila, which will cause an oversupply. So, by law of demand and supply, pag taas ang supply, mubaba ang presyo,” Villanueva added.