BY: ANGELICA ARQUERO
Tomato vendors at the Baguio City Public Market are struggling with low sales as prices drop to as low as 10 pesos per kilo. Farmers and traders alike are feeling the impact of the oversupply, which may cause prices to fall further in the coming months.
As early as 6 a.m., vendor Medina Diwa opened her stall, hoping to sell off her stock. However, by midday, sales remained slow. The sharp decline in tomato prices, now ranging between 10 pesos and 20 pesos per kilo, has left her worried about losses, as some of her produce is starting to spoil.
“We vendors also end up throwing some of our stocks away,” Diwa said. “We’re losing money because when new supplies arrive, we have to pay for them immediately, and we don’t recover our capital.”
Another vendor, Rolly Asperas, purchases tomatoes at 8 pesos to 10 pesos per kilo from suppliers and sells them for 20 pesos. However, due to weak demand, he has had to slash prices to just 10 pesos per kilo.
“We give them to those on a tight budget or sell them to small vendors,” Asperas said. “Sometimes, we even sell them for 5 pesos or give them away rather than let them go to waste.”
The price drop is not just affecting Baguio vendors but also traders at the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT) in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, where tomato prices have fallen to 5 pesos to 8 pesos per kilo. NVAT General Manager Engr. Aivan Alfaro said they are working on solutions to address the oversupply issue.
“We are partnering with institutions willing to help,” Alfaro said. “We have also launched a food pantry, allocating a small budget to buy tomatoes. We are urging local governments to support this initiative so that instead of being discarded, tomatoes can still be sold, even at lower prices.”
Alfaro attributed the price drop to an influx of tomatoes from other provinces, particularly Ilocos.
“Some traders saw that prices here were higher compared to other areas, so they brought their tomatoes here,” he explained. “At one point, the price even dropped to 3 pesos per kilo, but that only lasted a day.”
The Department of Agriculture has assured affected farmers that it will assist them through the Kadiwa ng Pangulo program, which connects them directly to consumers and institutional buyers to help stabilize prices.
