The Philippine Online Chronicles

Assistant secretary Salvador Salacup of the Department of Agriculture (DA) warned vegetable dealers on Friday not to raise prices because of El Niño. This came in response to reports that vegetable sellers, especially in Metro Manila, have been telling customers to expect an increase in price due to the summer dry spell.

"Our monitoring showed there were isolated cases of vegetable prices going up,” he said. “But at the La Trinidad Trading Post where Metro Manila gets 65 percent of its vegetables, the supply and price are stable. So those jacking up their prices may be trying to make a profit and should be warned."

He added that the supply level of vegetables remains normal, and will likely remain so until the rainy season in May or June.

The DA recently announced that El Niño has damaged around P3.7 billion worth of rice and corn.

Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas however, said that the “[amount of damage] is still within our target.”

“There are some areas that are experiencing good farm conditions even if some areas are badly affected,” he added.

P2 billion worth of the damage was done on yellow corn, which is mostly used as feed for livestock. This has pushed the private sector to import at least 700,000 metric tons of wheat feed to substitute for corn.

“This is done by the private sector, walang [there is no] government intervention," said Salacup.

The DA has also urged farmers who specialize in rice and corn to switch to vegetables and other cash crops to mitigate the impact of El Niño on their livelihood.

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