According to an officer of the League of Associations at the LA Trinidad Vegetable Trading, farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, are losing an average of P2.5 million per day due to agricultural smuggling since the beginning of 2022.
During a Senate hearing, Agot Balanoy, the association’s public relations officer, stated that the volume of smuggled carrots has doubled from 20% in 2021 to 40% this year, despite claims that government agencies are conducting confiscations.
“Starting last year, the decline of our orders coming from the different key markets declined to 20 to 40 percent. So, last year, 20 percent lang, but this year, because the volume of the smuggled carrots [has] doubled, nag-doble na rin po ‘yung decrease ng orders [the decrease of orders has also doubled],” she said.
“So the monetary value of this percentage, at an average, is equivalent to P2.5 million per day, which is a loss on the part of the farmers,” Balanoy added.
Balanoy told the Senate that people buy vegetables from China because they can be stored for two months as opposed to local products, which can only be stored for two to three days.
“So these are another effect of the smuggling. There are a lot of unsold local or Benguet carrots in the markets because they — our consumers or our buyers in the end market — prefer to buy the smuggled carrots coming from China mainly because according to the consumers, the China carrots can be stored for two months and it will not be destroyed while our Benguet carrots are easily destroyed within two to three days,” she said.
Benguet farmers losing P2.5M daily due to smuggled carrots
“There are a lot of local carrots that are being dumped.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III stated that authorities should investigate whether these imported and smuggled vegetables contain chemicals to extend their shelf life.
“Isa sa mga dapat malaman, yung mga carrots na galing sa abroad or imported or smuggled, usually smuggled kaya tumatagal ng dalawang buwan yun, may gamot yun. Kaya hindi nila dapat binibili,” Sotto said.
The Senate Committee on the Whole is looking into the spread of smuggled agricultural products in the Philippines.
The panel also investigates issues in the Bureau of Customs related to crop smuggling.
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