THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is working closely with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in a bid to stop the smuggling of vegetables, particularly carrots, which badly impacts local...
THE Department of Agriculture is working closely with the Bureau of Customs in a bid to stop the smuggling of vegetables, particularly carrots, which badly impacts local farmers.
“Hindi po tayo nagbibigay ng import permit ng carrots. Ibig sabihin niyan, puslit ‘yan. Nakikiusap tayo sa mga traders na nakakasakit ‘yan sa ating mga magsasaka,” he said in a television interview on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. She said some farmers have to just throw away their root crops, especially carrots, because no one is buying as business establishments opt to avail themselves of the imported ones because they have longer shelf life.
“Our problem is the cost of production per kilo of carrots, for example is P25 per kilogram. So if a farmer would throw away at least five tons of his harvest, that would be too much for them to take,” she added.