Benguet farmers want permits for Korean strawberries recalled

DEMAND UP Christelle Anne Espenilla, 4, watches over a pile of strawberries that her parents are selling at Baguio City public market. Tourists have been flocking to Baguio for the Christmas holidays and demand for strawberries grown in the city and Benguet has caused prices to climb as high as P600 a kilo as of Tuesday. —EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY—Benguet farmers and traders are urging the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to recall and cancel the permits it issued for the importation of strawberries from South Korea.

Already hurt by a flood of smuggled vegetables in the past months, the province’s farmers now have to contend with strawberries from South Korea that started flooding the wet markets in Cebu province on Nov. 29, according to Agot Balanoy, spokesperson for the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post. Benguet produces strawberries for the seasonal peak season from December to February as well as for the months leading to Holy Week. The province, which grows salad vegetables, is still recovering from the impact of quarantine restrictions due to two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

The BPI had claimed that the imported strawberries were meant for the Korean community in the country, Balanoy said. But the imported fruits were distributed in Cebu wet markets and were readily available in shopping malls, she said.

‘Pasalubong’

The National Plant Quarantine Services Division of the BPI issued an import permit covering Nov. 20 this year until Nov. 20, 2024, Balanoy said.

She pointed out, however, that the permit was for ornamental plants and not for strawberries. “This is clearly misdeclaration. And misdeclaration is a form of smuggling—technical smuggling,” Balanoy said.

Benguet strawberries are some of the most sought after “pasalubong” (gifts) by visitors of Baguio, particularly now that it has reopened its borders to leisure travel. It has set a daily cap of 5,000 tourists who have flocked to the summer capital for the yuletide break.

Crowd-drawing events in February and March like the Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) and the Strawberry Festival of Benguet capital La Trinidad, where the strawberries are grown, used to boost sales before the pandemic struck.

Data from the La Trinidad Municipal Agriculture Office says 825 farmers produce 1,175 metric tons of fresh strawberries in 52 hectares of strawberry fields.Balanoy said 130,000 farmers depend on farming to feed their families and to send their children to school.

But in August, Benguet farmers and traders were alarmed by imported cabbages from China that penetrated the markets in Cebu and Metro Manila. In September, they again raised their concerns over imported carrots also from China.

House action

At the House of Representatives, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said he was alarmed over the influx of smuggled vegetables and fruits flooding wet markets across the country.

Salceda said the House ways and means committee, which he chairs, would resume its hearings in January on the smuggling and misdeclaration of plant products.”

In our earlier hearings on the matter, we called on the (BPI) to ensure that the inspection of plant imports is up to standard. They did point out that they are unable to inspect each shipment, which makes these shipments vulnerable to misdeclaration,” Salceda said. —WITH A REPORT FROM NESTOR CORRALES