Farmers bewail low tomato farmgate price

MANILA, Philippines — Farmers are suffering as the farmgate price of tomatoes has dropped to P8 per kilo amid the peak harvest, according to farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag).

“Tomatoes are not being harvested currently as the farmgate is only P8 per kilo. It will be more expensive to harvest tomatoes,” Sinag executive director Jayson Cainglet told The STAR yesterday.

“There are no complaints from consumers amid the low cost of tomatoes, but farmers are crying because of the drop in the farmgate price,” he noted.

Tomato retail prices reached as high as P360 per kilo last month.

Based on the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s monitoring of Metro Manila markets, tomato retail prices now range between P35 and P70 per kilo.

Meanwhile, imposing a maximum suggested retail price (SRP) on onions should be prioritized by the DA, Cainglet said.

Onion retail prices rose to P240 per kilo despite the farmgate price of red and white onions going down to P90 and P40 per kilo, respectively.

Despite onion farmers’ ongoing harvest, Cainglet said the DA allowed the importation of 3,000 metric tons of red onions and 1,000 MT of white onions.

“The problem is still the traders. There is a need to impose a max SRP on onions so that consumers will benefit from farmers’ losses, especially for white onions, now pegged at only P40 per kilo,” he said.

The retail price of red onions should not exceed P150 per kilo, he noted.