Cebu Farmers to Increase Profits, Market Presence

With the downtrend of prices of vegetables hurting Cebuano farmers, the Cebu Provincial Government, through the Agriculture Office, is mapping out short and long-term solutions to address the problem.

Roldan Saragena, head of the Provincial Agriculture Office, expressed that for local growers to increase their return of investments, they should avoid low-balling middlemen.

“Through our office’s marketing agribusiness section, we will help our farmers look for direct buyers in the city. As much as possible, we will avoid approaching middlemen since they buy the vegetables in a very cheap price,” Saragena said.

A middleman in Mantalongon, Dalaguete, offers farmers P5 per kilo for tomato and P10 for a kilo of cabbage, Saragena said.

Dalaguete town, south of Cebu, is one of the major growers of vegetables in the province.

The provincial agriculturist said they are eyeing restaurants, hotels and super markets as direct buyers that could offer higher prices for fresh and good quality of vegetables.

A strong farmers’ organization, Saragena said, will also help local producers get a fair value of their crops.

“Instead of dealing with a middleman individually, it would be better if they do it as a group so they could demand for a fair price of their crops,” he said.

For the long-term solution, Saragena said they will help farmers identify market driven-crops on a particular season.

“There are months that the demand for tomatoes, cabbages, carrots are high. So we will encourage them to plant these crops. We will also study the volume of vegetables that are coming in from other provinces to avoid over supply,” he said.

Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Cesante, for his part, embraced the idea and said that initial steps to arrange for direct buyers in the city are undertaken by his town.

FSTP-vegetable based production

Yesterday, Gov. Hilario P. Davide III visited the experimental field in Mantalongon, Dalaguete, which serves as the pilot area for the Farmer-Scientist Training Program (FSTP) for vegetable-based production.

Davide assured the farmers that Capitol would continue to provide farm inputs, machineries and technical skills to increase their yields that will translate into a much bigger income.

“Just inform us through our Agriculture Office of the kind of aid you want from us. Rest assured we will give it to you,” Davide said in Cebuano.

The governor also announced the P600,000 financial assistance that is underway for being among the towns which adopted the FSTP.

The financial aid came from the P20 million budget approved last year by the Provincial Board as part of the FSTP expansion project.

Some 65 farmers from eight barangays, who are part of the pilot project for FSTP-vegetable production, will individually receive water containers and hoses.

Jose Dizon Dee Ancla, a farmer of seven years, was grateful to the Capitol for providing them with the scientific knowledge in vegetables farming.

cebu.gov.ph