MANILA, Philippines — The farmgate price of tomatoes dropped to P3 to P5 per kilo amid oversupply in the market, a ranking official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has confirmed.
In a chance interview yesterday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Kristine Evangelista said that necessary actions are now being implemented to help the affected farmers, particularly in Regions 2 and 3.
“We will get in touch with our regional field office. We donated 10 trucks to the local government unit. This is the Kadiwa grant in Benguet. The trucks were donated to help the farmers in transporting their products either to the trading post or to the Kadiwa centers,” Evangelista said.
She said the cooperatives are encouraged to buy the agricultural products of small farmers.
“We are doing this in Region 3 and Region 2 where the farmgate price of tomatoes fell,” Evangelista noted.
She admitted that the decrease in farmgate price of tomatoes was due to the logistical issue of oversupply.
“It’s both (logistical and oversupply) because we always know the intervention of the government is important to bring the products of the farmers to the market,” Evangelista said.
According to Evangelista, it is also necessary to ensure the coordination of the local government units (LGUs) in implementing the cropping calendar to prevent the problem of oversupply.
“Right now we are at least gaining some improvement as many local government units give importance to agriculture so hopefully, this kind of problem will be resolved, we have institutional programs for that,” she said.
Despite a decline in farmgate price of tomatoes, based on the monitoring of the DA yesterday, the retail price of tomatoes in Metro Manila markets remained high at P25 to P60 per kilo.
While prices of onion, tomato, salt and other basic ingredients are still rising, the DA found reason to celebrate April as Filipino Food Month to encourage cooking native foods without having to worry about their suggested retail prices.
The DA spearheads this year’s celebration of Filipino Food Month or Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino in collaboration with the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement, Department of Tourism and National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Proclamation Number 469 institutionalized the celebration of Filipino Food Month every April in recognition of Filipino cuisine as a symbol of cultural heritage, history and identity that needs to be preserved, enriched and promoted.