Reported damage on vegetables due to frost or andap should not alarm consumers. According to the report submitted to the Department of Agriculture as of February 17, 2017, the total area affected by andap is only 1 – 2 %.
Frost occurred successively last February 13 – 16 in frost prone areas of Benguet and Mountain Province. In Benguet, a total area of 61,317.81 hectare was planted to vegetables but only 1.32 % (806.5 ha) was affected by frost. While in Mountain Province which is one of the frost prone areas, among the 9,151.225 ha planted only 0.002% (0.228 ha) was affected by frost.
Most of the crops affected includes potato, cabbage, Chinese cabbage or wombok, carrot and radish which are on the maturity stage so there is no reduction in yield. Minimal damage (2%) on cutflowers which are on flowering stage was also noted. Nonetheless, no possible secondary effects was noted as the impact of the damage to the affected crops is only isolated and small in terms of the reduction in volume of harvest.
“Haan unay nga naapektu-an dagiti na-imula nga nateng ta pinagtutudo metten. Ada latta dagijay nakset gapu ti andap ngem panaghaharvest metten isunga basit lang ti epekto na ijay production (The vegetables were slightly affected because of the occasional rain. Though there are plants that were burned due to frost, the vegetables are already to be harvested thus it does not affect much the production)” said Mr. Marson Lay-at, farmer from Atok, Benguet.
There would only be difference with the product quality. Cabbage for instance, if severely affected it will be sorted as 2nd class which has lower price than those being sorted as 1st class.
With regards to the prices of vegetables, frost damage is minimal and only few area is affected thus frost damage cannot be attributed to increase in prices. This is supported by the price monitoring report submitted by the Benguet Farmers Marketing Cooperative.
In addition, the harvest from the lower irrigated production areas will be enough to supplement the volume lost in frost affected areas.
Frost has been a regular phenomenon, especially here, so the farmers already knew how to manage it, said Lito Mocati, High Value Crops Development Program Technical Staff who did the validation of frost damage in the field.
Further, the farmers were advised to monitor PAGASA advisories and should coordinate with the Municipal Agriculture Office for assistance regarding the pumps whenever they anticipate lowering of the temperature especially at night. They were also recommended to install the plastic sheets provided and utilize the water pumps issued before by the Department of Agriculture-CAR.**Karen T. Gawigawen
