Instead of throwing them away, tons of carrots were given away for free in La Trinidad, Benguet since some farmers are affected despite there being no oversupply of carrots.
A netizen’s post about La Trinidad, Benguet has gone viral on social media.
It shows 100 sacks of carrots being given away at the Sun Valley Trading Post.
In the poster, most of the carrots were no longer sellable because they had started to rot.
According to Ruel, one of the middlemen at the trading post, there was a surge in carrot deliveries last week.
“They’ll only take the good ones. They won’t take those from yesterday. That was yesterday. Those aren’t really rejects or bad ones,” says Ruel, middleman.
(Yung magaganda na kasi yung kukunin kasi, hinid na nila kukunin yun kahapon, kahapon yun e. Yung mga yan, kumbaga parang hindi naman reject na hindi maganda.)
These are what they call ‘lumpia’ and ‘putol’, rejected carrots that buyers did not accept due to quality that buyers did not accept due to quality or sinze not meeting the buyer’s expectation.
However, the group clarified that there is no oversupply of carrots, as confirmed by the farmers who harvested them.
“It was posted on social media because it was a waste to just throw them away. We would just discard whatever was left. There was just a flood of supply, and only a few buyers,” Ruel added.
(Kaya pinost sa social media yun kasi sayang nga kasi tinatapon, kung ano yung naiwan yun na lang ibabasura namin. Talagang dumagsa lang talaga atsaka konti yung buyer.)
Because of this, some farmers and carrot sellers are now being undercut.
According to Mary Adawen, carrot seller, “The farmers and disposers here are upset because now the buyers below are angry too, wondering why they’re giving them away when they’re expensive.”
(Ang mga farmer at disposer dito, nagagalit sila kas ngayon ang buyer doon sa baba nagagalit din, bakit pinamimigay, samantala dito ang mahal.)
“If the carrots are bad, we just throw them away…that’s why I said, oh my,” Selda, a carrot seller, added.
(Yung pangit ibabasura namin, kaya sabi ko nako naman.)
Based on the price monitoring of Benguet Agri-pinoy Trading Center today, August 26, the prices of carrots range from 36 to 55 pesos for big size, 10 to 12 pesos for medium and large, and 5 to 6 pesos for lumpia.
The news team tried to get a statement from the Department of Agriculture – Cordillera, but they have not responded to our messages and calls.
