Agri goods’ falling prices alarm solons

HIGHLAND CROPS | Benguet farms continue to produce the semi-temperate vegetables that traders sell at the Baguio market or ship down to Metro Manila and its neighboring communities in this photo taken on Jan. 4, 2022. (EV ESPIRITU / INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON)

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers have called for an investigation of the massive drop in the prices of agricultural produce, even if farmers incurred higher input costs due to rising fuel prices.

In House Resolution No. 2513, Bayan Muna Representatives Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Isagani Zarate, and Ferdinand Gaite urged the agriculture and food committee to conduct a probe in aid of legislation of the lower wholesale prices of agricultural products amid fuel price increases.

The lawmakers cited reports about farmers having to sell their products at a bargain, particularly in Occidental Mindoro, where the price of onion went from P40 to P20 a kilo. On the other hand, cabbage was being sold at P9 to P10 a kilo while celery was priced at only P5 kilo.

In the Cordillera region, farmers had to sell their produce at a loss or leave them in the fields to rot and be used as fertilizer, the representatives said in their resolution.

They warned that the country’s food security was on the “verge of collapse” as the alarming spike in the prices of fuel products and fertilizer were affecting local food production.

On Tuesday, oil companies implemented the biggest increase in the prices of petroleum products so far this year: P5.85 per liter of diesel, P4.10 for a liter of kerosene, and P3.60 per liter of gasoline. The price hikes were due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing a fuel supply crisis.

“The government’s reactive and slow-paced interventions to cushion the impact of global economic challenges and conflict between Ukraine and Russia on our country’s food security will only lead to the further detriment and suffering of our farmers and consumers,” the lawmakers said.

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