Frost blankets Benguet’s veggie farms as temperature drops

FARMERS’WOES Frost covers crops that are ready for harvest at a farm in Barangay Paoay in Atok, Benguet, on Friday. Dipping temperatures trigger ice crystals to blanket vegetable farms in
the area between December and February. —PJ HAIGHT/CONTRIBUTOR

BAGUIO CITY — Vegetable gardens in some villages of Atok town in nearby Benguet province were covered in frost on Friday as these areas began experiencing dropping temperatures since early this year.

Over the past two weeks, temperature readings in Atok, some 50 kilometers from this city, have steadily dipped, hitting 8 degrees Celsius on Friday, the coldest in the area so far this “amihan” (northeast monsoon) season. It was way lower than Baguio’s temperature of 12.9 C recorded on the same day.

READ: Frost returns to parts of Benguet town as cold weather lingers

According to local farmer PJ Haight, frost has been a regular occurrence in Atok, affecting mostly vegetable farms in Barangay Paoay, from December to February when the temperature drops to as low as 3 C.“We expect thicker frost in February when the weather is colder,” Haight told the Inquirer in an interview on Friday.

Wilting

He said ice crystals covered rows of cabbage that were ready for harvest at his farm in Paoay, soaking the leaves and roots that would eventually wilt.

But he said farmers were not worried about the damage that frost could cause to the crops, noting that they had devised mechanisms to cushion its impact over the years.

READ: Smuggling blamed for carrot glut in Benguet

“We’re more anxious about the drop in the price of cabbage, and we cannot do anything about it,” he said.

As of Thursday, the wholesale price of cabbage dropped to as low as P1 per kilo based on the monitoring at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in Benguet’s capital town of La Trinidad.

“For farmers to earn a decent income, the buying price should not go any lower than P20 per kilo,” Haight said.

Benguet traders have blamed the unabated vegetable smuggling for the drop in demand and prices for local produce. Among the smuggled vegetables are cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and onion leeks.Despite the drop in prices, Haight said they would continue harvesting their cabbage, hoping that their sales would improve in the coming days.