The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would help farmers in Kalayaan, Laguna, who incurred huge losses and were forced to dump their tomatoes, as there were no takers.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he has spoken to barangay chairman Froilan Reyes about the matter and assured him that the DA would “find a way to compensate” tomato farmers in Kalayaan.
Piñol said the DA would help the farmers sell their surplus tomatoes in the TienDA Malasakit Store in Taguig City, which will open on October 13.
“The DA will provide the transportation to haul their tomatoes from Kalayaan to Taguig,” he said in a Facebook post. “Chairman Reyes said they will bring about 5 tons of tomatoes to be sold in the TienDA.”
Piñol said the DA would also link tomato farmers with institutional buyers who can buy their produce directly.
“They will also be trained to plant other vegetable varieties and provided with production loans under the Production Loan Easy Access program of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council,” he added.
Photos of abandoned tomatoes along the road in Kalayaan, Laguna, went viral in social media a few days ago. Reports noted that around 10 metric tons of tomatoes were discarded by farmers, as traders could not accommodate them anymore due to oversupply.
According to news reports, the estimated income loss of the tomato farmers is between P4 million to P5 million.
According to a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority, tomato production recorded a 1.81-percent year-on-year increase in the second quarter. Production in Calabarzon, which includes Laguna, rose because more farmers planted tomato.
“In Calabarzon, bigger fruits were harvested because of the usage of high-yielding variety. Also there was an increase in area planted due to temporary shifting from cabbage to tomato production to maintain soil fertility,” the report read.
“Increases in area planted resulting from the provision of seeds from the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office through the local government units and higher demand for ketchup processing were reported in Central Luzon. More farmers in Northern Mindanao were encouraged to plant tomato because of the high demand from the Visayas and Metro Manila markets,” it added.