That was what a market vendor told a farmer who wanted to sell to her some beautiful tomatoes. Better to just squeeze them and get the seeds for planting next time.
Others are dumping their harvests on roadsides or in ravines. Others are giving them for free due to a glut.
As if every farmer in Benguet and nearby areas like Nueva Vizcaya is harvesting tomatoes which could not even pay for the transportation cost to market. Well, there is no way we can repeal the law of supply and demand.
Wide swings in the prices of highland vegetables was always a problem. Thus, an educator once proposed that there should be some sort of rotation of farm areas and what crops to plant there. Everybody with some common sense agreed. But there was never a decent attempt at implementation. So farmers just went on blindly planting the crops they heard commanded good prices. By the time they harvested, there was an oversupply. Some farmers though who appreciated the logic of it implemented it on their own. One who economically progressed was always late in planting. He would wait for the majority to plant then conduct an actual survey as to what crops they planted. When he was certain of the crops planted by the least number, only then would he start going to work.
Crop rotation can be successful if tied up with some incentives which the government must offer. If this cannot be done due to economic constraints, then it should be with some degree of coercion. It should be easy to come up with a system to make farmers plant crops according to a community plan to avoid a glut or the collapse of prices. There will be some resistance but this will soften if people understand it is to prevent them from treading the road to their economic perdition. How easy would the system be? Allow only the roads to be used for transporting farm produce in accordance with the community plan.
Of course, this can be used for corrupt ends but that can be prevented, though not without difficulty. “The measure can be said to be dictatorial but it is for the good of everyone. It is for the public’s welfare and such justifies the use of the state’s “police power.” If this does not sit well with officials, then come up with other measures. At least, we should try instead of just looking at farmers crying their heads off due to huge losses. A big reason not to just leave them to their own stupid designs.
Is the situation ripe for some government intervention? Yes, in a limited way.**