Veggies supply runs low in Cebu

Pepe Bacus, a 39-year-old vegetable farmer of the mountain barangay of Gaas in Balamban town, is worried that he’ll have to wait until May rather than March to harvest his crops.

“Harvest season is after every two months and that’s the time that I only earn money,” Bacus said. He sells a kilo of tomatoes for P7 and chili or pepper for P30. He sometimes sells his harvest to markets in Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City and other areas depending on orders.

Bacus said he should have started planting chili, pepper and tomatoes last week.

Bacus said the soil is soft and the continuous rain will only rot the vegetables.

LONG WAIT

“I’m afraid that our next harvest is on May. That is too long to wait. This kind of living feeds my whole family,” Bacus said.The unusually prolonged cold spell in Cebu had taken its toll on Cebu City’s vegetable supply.

Cebu City Markets Administrator Raquel Arce said there were fewer vegetables in the city’s markets since last week.

“Our main supplier from southern Cebu usually brings a truckload of vegetables but recently they just bring half a truckload,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Arce said 30 percent of the vegetable supply of Cebu City comes from Mantalungon in Dalaguete town in southern Cebu. The village  is considered as Cebu’s vegetable basket.

Another 30 percent comes from outside the province particularly in Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon and other areas in Mindanao.

The remaining 40 percent is sourced from northern Cebu and the city’s mountain barangays.

Most vegetables coming from the city are only small-scale, Arce told Cebu Daily News.

But Cebu City’s upland farmers are the major source of sweet corn products.

The Cebu City Council declared last week 17 upland barangays under calamity status after the cold weather caused losses in livestock and crops amounting to P22 million.

The city’s fish supply  also dwindled due to the cold weather, Arce said./ with Correspondent Michelle Joy L. Padayhag