Andap
Scares Farmers of Little Alaska, Other Benguet
Towns
The meningococcemia
scare has left
Baguio
City’s
public market and other vegetable outlets with a few buyers. But there’s
another shock that’s bound to make thousands of vegetable growers poorer:
andap or “vegetable frost.”
By Johnny Fialen
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
LA TRINIDAD,
Benguet – The meningococcemia scare has left Baguio City’s public market and other
vegetable outlets with a few buyers. But there’s another shock that’s
bound to make thousands of vegetable growers poorer: andap or
“vegetable frost.”
Worker unloads potatoes
from truck, Baguio City
Photo from www.cpaphils.org |
|
Already burdened by
the continued dumping of cheap vegetable imports that has pushed down
prices of highland viands, farmers of Benguet province in northern
Philippines now have to contend with the vegetable frost. Reports said
andap has destroyed P46-P50 million worth of vegetables in Benguet
alone.
Andap
usually occurs during November to February, the coldest months of the year
in the Cordillera mountain ranges. The frost leaves vegetables
particularly their leaves wrinkled and burnt leading to stagnation and
eventual “death.” Vegetables and root crops mostly affected are cabbage, garden pea,
potato, radish, and wombok, a type of pechay. The vegetable valley’s
popular but expensive cutflower is also affected.
Benguet
agriculturists say that four towns have been declared in a state of
calamity due to the vegetable frost: Benguet’s “Little Alaska” or Atok
(which has recorded a loss of P20 million worth of destroyed crops);
Kibungan (P17 million); Buguias (more than P5 million); and Mankayan
(more than P3 million). Other towns like Bokod and Kabayan have also been
reportedly affected but no report has been submitted to the Benguet
agriculturists.
As a result, the
decrease in production has pumped up the prices of highland vegetables:
garden peas now sell for P60-P85 a kilo; carrots, P10-P25 a kilo; and
potatoes P15-P25 a kilo.
Prompted by the
reports, the Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to give free vegetable
seeds and sprinklers to farmers of the four municipalities. Carrot, garden
pea, cabbage, radish, potato and cutflower seeds will be distributed.
Nothing
John Kim, Benguet
board member, last week said however that farmers could do nothing about
the vegetable frost because it is a global cycle. He said only 6.8 percent
of Benguet’s entire vegetable production is damaged by the frost. He also
warned that the destruction could be used by some authorities to justify
more vegetable importation.
Kim also added that
Benguet Gov. Borromeo Melchor and the provincial government will help
minimize frost damage to vegetables by encouraging farmers to build more
greenhouses.
In an interview,
farmers Reynaldo Abalos,33, of Atok, Benguet and Candido Pilapil, 48, of
Natubleng, Benguet, said frost is a big problem to them during the cold
season because it really reduces the quality and production of vegetables
in Benguet.
”Awan ti
maaramidan dagiti farmers iti daytoy a problema gapu ta natural a pasamak
ken talaga nga bumassit ti produksyon gapu ta adu ti matay ken saan da nga
makadakkel” (Farmers cannot do anything with frost because it is a
natural cause and the production is really affected because vegetables are
stunted and many die due to too much cold.)
“Little Alaska”
Abalos and Pilapil
also said that every year, Atok registers the biggest crop damages due to
andap as it is located at the highest point in Halsema in Benguet.
“Talaga nga nalammin ket saan nga makaya met siguro dagiti mula ken
uray dagiti tao ket rumuar da laeng no mga alas nuwebe wenno alas dyes ti
agsapa, ngem tallo ti sweater da ken sabali pay diay ules nga nakabalkot
ti bagi da. Isu nga kunada nga little
Alaska kano”
(It’s really very cold and plants cannot endure it. Residents go out
between 9 or 10 in the morning wearing three jackets and a blanket wrapped
around them. That’s why Atok is called little Alaska), Abalos said.
Meanwhile, Mila
Lingbawan and Virgie Bandao of the Alyansa Dagiti Pesante iti Taeng
Kordilyera (APIT-TAKO, a farmers alliance), vegetable frost is one reason
why farmers go bankrupt. They demanded that the government should
subsidize farmers in terms of new technology in agriculture, irrigation
system, farm to market roads and other services so that in times of
calamity farmers are not hard up on finance.
The APIT-TAKO members
also said the government should first solve the issue of crop importation
that is flooding the country’s markets and pull out from the agreement on
agriculture of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to save the country’s
farmers. NORDIS / Posted by Bulatlat
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