Consumers express dismay over dumping of excess tomatoes in Nueva Vizcaya

Consumers have recently expressed their dismay over the dumping of kilograms of tomatoes in Nueva Vizcaya due to oversupply. Photo: Courtesy of Vivian Faye Baluca Fermantez/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — In light of the country’s soaring vegetable prices, consumers have recently expressed their dismay after seeing several kilograms of tomatoes being discarded in Nueva Vizcaya due to oversupply.

Last Jan. 29, social media user Vivian Faye Baluca Fermantez posted photos showing hundreds of kilograms of tomatoes dumped by farmers at a vacant lot in Barangay Almaguer South in Bambang town.

Fermantez told the Inquirer that the residents in the area where the photos were taken informed her that the tomatoes came from the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT).

“[Napilitan daw po ang mga farmers na itapon] po roon kasi marami raw pong supply ng kamatis. Iyong iba po, ipinamimigay. Pero dahil po maraming supply, para po hindi mabulok sa mga pwesto nila, itinatapon na ang po no’ng iba,” she said.

(Farmers were forced to throw away most of the tomatoes due to oversupply. Some of it was distributed to others. However, since there was an excess supply, they opted to dump them in order to prevent the tomatoes from rotting in their stalls.)

She added the dumped tomatoes were still of good quality and might have been sold, but the farmers said many of these produce were too small to be sold in the market.

Meanwhile, the Inquirer reported on Monday that the Department of Agriculture is seeking to link agricultural producers with more consumers and institutional buyers in the hopes of increasing farmers’ revenue and avoiding wastage of agricultural products.

They are also investigating on the issue concerning the dumping of about 500 kilos of small tomatoes priced at P8 to P12 per kilo at the NVAT.

However, NVAT’s marketing officer Julio Basilan earlier explained that consumers prefer purchasing larger-sized produce amid lower prices of smaller commodities.

RELATED STORIES:

DA steps up efforts linking farm producers to wholesale buyers

Mindoro onion farmers hit by low prices, floods

P2.589-M worth of onions sold directly to buyers, cutting off middlemen — DA

JPV