DA to introduce other crops to Calabarzon amid tomato ‘oversupply’

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Agriculture on Tuesday said it is targeting to help ease the “oversupply” of tomatoes in Region IV-A (CALABARZON) by sharing new crops with farmers.

“‘Yung Department of Agriculture po sa Calabarzon para po masuportahan pa ‘yung mga farmers ay magbibigay po tayo ng ayuda na magbigay pa tayo ng ibang binhi aside from tomatoes po.  Hindi na po kamatis yung ibibigay po natin doon sa ibang areas dahil nga po masyado po ngayong marami ang kamatis,” Arnel De Mesa, DA regional executive director said in an interview with dzMM.  

De Mesa added that Calabarzon is known for “pakbet”, so the other vegetable crops they are eying are string beans, squash and bitter gourd.

The DA director admitted that there has been an oversupply of tomatoes for the past three months even in other regions.

De Mesa said most tomatoes are harvested in Kalayaan and Luisiana towns.

'Farmers do not lose profit from oversupply'

He clarified that the tomatoes were not discarded since the farmers already coordinated with traders.

However, De Mesa said the traders can only absorb five times of the normal supply of tomatoes, so there was an excess five metric tons that were not taken by traders.

De Mesa said farmers do not lose profit from the oversupply.

“They have a lot of profit,” he said in Filipino.

At present, De Mesa said tomatoes are being sold at P15 to P25 per kilo.

Meanwhile, the DA official said there are no other problems in vegetables recently and the prices are now stable after the typhoon season.

“The public will gradually feel the decrease in vegetable prices,” De Mesa said in Filipino.