DA: Talks with regional offices underway to prevent tomato wastage

MANILA: The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said it is now coordinating with regional offices to prevent tomato wastage amid the off-season harvest. "We are talking already with the regional field office ng Cordillera at (of Cordillera Administrative Region and) Region II to check on these surpluses ng mga kamatis (of tomatoes),' DA Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa said in an interview following reports of tomato disposal in Nueva Vizcaya. He said the DA may either bring the possible surplus in Kadiwa sites or markets in Metro Manila through logistics assistance. Besides CAR and Cagayan Valley, other regions with reported high volume of harvest are Central Luzon and Calabarzon. Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) Chairperson Rosendo So said coordination and linkages between the DA and farmers' cooperative associations (FCAs) should be improved. He cited the possible drop in retail prices of tomatoes due the volume of off-season harvest following the spiking prices in early July which reached PHP140 to PHP220 per kilogram. 'Na-delay nga ng mga (It was delayed by around) one week and two weeks. Pero continuous na yung pag-harvest natin. So nakikita natin may pagbaba pa ng presyo (But our harvest is continuous. So we will see a drop in prices in) the next few days,' he said in a separate Zoom interview. De Mesa, however, said the current retail prices are still within the PHP60/kg. to PHP80/kg. reasonable bracket price for tomatoes. As of Aug. 12, the prevailing price range of tomatoes in Metro Manila is at PHP60/kg. to PHP130/kg., according to the DA Bantay Presyo. De Mesa also underscored the urgency in securing agri-infrastructure for cold storage and post-harvest facilities to resolve challenges during the harvest seasons. Source: Philippines News Agency