NASA P2.5 million kada araw ang nalulugi sa mga magsasaka sa La Trinidad, Benguet simula nang mag-umpisa ang 2022 dahil sa vegetable smuggling, ayon sa League of Association at the LA Trinidad Vegetable Trading Areas.
Sa pagdinig sa Senado, sinabi ni Agot Balanoy, ang public relations officer ng asosasyon, na ang dami ng smuggled carrots ay dumoble mula 20% noong 2021 sa 40% ngayong taon sa kabila ng ginagawang pagkumpiska ng mga ahensiya ng panahalaan.
“Starting last year, the decline of our orders coming from the different key markets declined to 20 to 40 percent. So, last year, 20 percent lang, but this year, because the volume of the smuggled carrots [has] doubled, nag-doble na rin po ‘yung decrease ng orders [the decrease of orders has also doubled],” sabi ni Balanoy.
“So the monetary value of this percentage, at an average, is equivalent to P2.5 million per day, which is a loss on the part of the farmers,” dagdag pa niya.
Sinabi ni Balanoy sa Senado na pinipili ng mga consumer na bumili ng mga gulay mula China dahil maaari itong ma-preserve sa loob ng dalawang buwan kumpara sa local products na tumatagal lamang ng dalawa hanggang tatlong araw.
“So these are another effect of the smuggling. There are a lot of unsold local or Benguet carrots in the markets because they — our consumers or our buyers in the end market — prefer to buy the smuggled carrots coming from China mainly because according to the consumers, the China carrots can be stored for two months and it will not be destroyed while our Benguet carrots are easily destroyed within two to three days,” aniya.