DA moves to curb veggie supply losses
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is strengthening an early-warning system that would track upcoming harvests, weather disturbances and market conditions in hopes of preventing vegetable gluts from leaving farmers with spoiled or unsold produce.
In a statement on Monday, the DA said it plans to use regular harvest projections and farm-gate price monitoring to identify potential supply disruptions and connect farmers with buyers before markets become saturated.
“We want to move from reacting to problems to anticipating them,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra said.
“The monitoring system will give us alerts on upcoming harvests, weather disturbances and other developments that could affect the supply chain to help us trigger assistance earlier,” Guevarra added.
According to the DA, the system could trigger logistics and other government assistance when potential disruptions are detected, while complementing regional help desks that respond to farmers facing difficulties moving their produce.
It also plans to strengthen coordination with other government agencies that could serve as institutional buyers.
This renewed early-warning initiative would build on emergency procurement measures used during the Middle East conflict, when a surge in logistics costs threatened the movement of agricultural products to markets.
It also comes after about 5.8 metric tons of Chinese cabbage and carrots were dumped in Benguet earlier this month after continuous rains, congested trading centers and poor road conditions prevented farmers from selling the produce before it deteriorated.
In one case, a truck carrying 2.5 tons of Chinese cabbage spent two days and two nights waiting to enter a La Trinidad trading center. Another farmer sold only 700 kilograms of a four-ton carrot harvest, eventually dumping about 3.1 tons along a road.
The DA said better monitoring could also help address recurring oversupply, which can drive farm-gate prices low enough that farmers opt to discard vegetables rather than incur additional transport costs.
But the agency stressed that the early-warning system is only an interim measure that will remain in place while the government pursues longer-term infrastructure to absorb excess harvests.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA is seeking funding in 2027 for mega cold storage and vegetable processing facilities beside the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center.
“Our long-term solution is mega cold storage and vegetable processing facilities,” Tiu Laurel said.
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