MANILA, Philippines — The farmgate price of squash in a town in Cotabato has dropped to P2 per kilo due to oversupply.
“Starting May, the farmgate price of squash went down to P2 per kilo as buyers have strict qualification due to oversupply. Most of the rejected squash are being sold on the streets,” Alamada municipal agriculturist Edmundo Guleng told a radio interview.
He said 40 hectares of land were planted with squash in May and another 32 hectares this month.
“The farmgate price of squash started at P25. It went down to P12 in mid-April until it reached P2 per kilo,” Guleng said.
He said Alamada supplies squash in Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod and nearby areas in Mindanao.
Farmers spend between P35,000 to P50,000 per hectare in planting squash.
“If their produce is sold at P2 per kilo, that’s only about P20,000 if they produce at least 10,000 kilos. It’s not even break-even for them. They incur huge losses,” Guleng said.
He said the municipal agricultural office is helping farmers sell their produce.
Guleng said many corn farmers shifted to squash farming due to the high cost of fertilizer.
Monitoring by the Department of Agriculture showed that retail prices of squash in Metro Manila markets range between P25 to P70 per kilo.