Aired (March 16, 2025): MGA MAGSASAKA SA NUEVA ECIJA, LUHAAN DAHIL SA EPEKTO NG MABABANG PRESYO NG ANI NILANG SIBUYAS AT KAMATIS!
Ang mga magsasaka ng mga sibuyas at kamatis mula Nueva Ecija, mapait ang kasalukuyang kalagayan. Ang sibuyas at kamatis kasi ngayon, nabebenta na lang sa paluging presyo!
Dahil din daw sa oversupply, maraming kamatis ngayon, ang tinatapon lang at hinahayaang mabulok!
Ang itinuturong ugat ng suliraning ito, ang diumano pag-angkat ng ating gobyerno ng mga gulay gaya ng sibuyas.
Si Jessica Soho, inimbestigahan ang mga isyung nagpapahirap sa mga magsasaka. Panoorin ang Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho special report sa video na ito. #KMJS
Para sa mga nais tumulong sa mga magsasaka at sa Rural Rising Philippines, maaaring makipag-ugnayan kay:
Ace Estrada
0917-538-7787
"Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" (One at Heart, Jessica Soho) is the Philippines' top-rating news magazine program, hosted by one of the most-awarded broadcast journalists in the country, Jessica Soho. It features human interest stories, food, news personalities, travel, trends and pop culture.'KMJS' airs every Sunday, 8:15 PM on GMA Network. Subscribe to youtube.com/gmapublicaffairs for our full episodes. #KMJS
Ang mga magsasaka ng mga sibuyas at kamatis mula Nueva Ecija, mapait ang kasalukuyang kalagayan. Ang sibuyas at kamatis kasi ngayon, nabebenta na lang sa paluging presyo!
Dahil din daw sa oversupply, maraming kamatis ngayon, ang tinatapon lang at hinahayaang mabulok!
Ang itinuturong ugat ng suliraning ito, ang diumano pag-angkat ng ating gobyerno ng mga gulay gaya ng sibuyas.
Si Jessica Soho, inimbestigahan ang mga isyung nagpapahirap sa mga magsasaka. Panoorin ang Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho special report sa video na ito. #KMJS
Para sa mga nais tumulong sa mga magsasaka at sa Rural Rising Philippines, maaaring makipag-ugnayan kay:
Ace Estrada
0917-538-7787
"Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" (One at Heart, Jessica Soho) is the Philippines' top-rating news magazine program, hosted by one of the most-awarded broadcast journalists in the country, Jessica Soho. It features human interest stories, food, news personalities, travel, trends and pop culture.'KMJS' airs every Sunday, 8:15 PM on GMA Network. Subscribe to youtube.com/gmapublicaffairs for our full episodes. #KMJS
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FunTranscript
00:00Onions, tomatoes, simple ingredients that are sometimes expensive, but now, the prices have dropped.
00:13The price of rice and imported goods has doubled compared to our farmers, who are now being sautéed.
00:23Sautéed eggs, sinigang, kaldereta, and other Filipino dishes are not as delicious without our sautéed ingredients.
00:44But the farmers of these vegetables are currently in a dire situation.
00:53Onions and tomatoes are now being sold at a very high price.
00:59Before, it was P100 per kilo. Now, it's P1 per kilo for P4.
01:04Because of the oversupply, a lot of tomatoes are now being thrown away and allowed to rot.
01:15Oh, my God!
01:21Oh, my God!
01:26The root of this problem is the lack of importation by the government of vegetables such as onions.
01:35We should have imported vegetables when we had a shortage of supplies.
01:41In a viral post, the farmers of onions called out to stop the importation of onions and support local farmers.
01:50I am asking for your help so that you can give my onions at a lower price.
01:56I am calling out to buy our tomatoes.
02:02Who should be sautéed in this problem?
02:12The problem with onions was solved when the Department of Agriculture approved on February 6
02:20the importation of thousands of metric tons of onions from China, Indonesia, and India.
02:27In the pool, when will onions be imported to many parts of the Philippines, including Nueva Ecija?
02:37We are here in Bongagon, Nueva Ecija.
02:40It is the onion capital of the Philippines.
02:43All 28 barangays here live on onions.
02:49It is the harvest season now.
02:51But the farmers here are not happy, they are in tears.
02:56Because their main product is at a low price.
03:01Can I have some onions?
03:03Yes!
03:04Yes!
03:10It is easy, but it is hard for me to stand up.
03:13My back hurts.
03:16I met Marife, who has been planting onions for three decades.
03:21How are you, Marife?
03:22I am fine.
03:24How is your harvest this year?
03:26Now, it is good.
03:27What is good?
03:28It means that the harvest is less.
03:30Ah, less.
03:31What is your job here?
03:33I am a farmer.
03:37Marife often accompanies her children, JR and Irene, to the onions farm.
03:46At night, the mothers start to harvest.
04:00It is almost noon when they are done.
04:03But they still need to remove the leaves.
04:06This is what we will cut.
04:08What is left is the inside.
04:11They have a stick to remove the leaves.
04:14Can I try?
04:15Sure.
04:16Okay, just like that.
04:19It is also hard because you are soaked in the heat all day.
04:24If the price is good, Marife is paid 1,000 pesos per day.
04:29But now, onions are so cheap.
04:32How much do you earn for this kind of living?
04:35I earn 300 pesos.
04:36How many months have you been harvesting onions?
04:39I have been doing this for a week.
04:41Do your parents also plant onions?
04:43Yes, they do.
04:44My father passed away.
04:46And now, your children are helping in the onions farm?
04:50Yes.
04:51So, you haven't been able to leave this place?
04:54Yes, we have already spent a lot of money.
04:56It is hard.
04:57If there is no harvest, we don't have an aunt.
04:59In 2016, Marife became a domestic helper in Saudi.
05:04But after 3 years, she also went back to Bungabon.
05:08I just looked at why I am with my family.
05:15It's true.
05:16Soy sauce, tomatoes, our food.
05:18We eat together.
05:24Sometimes, we don't have anything.
05:26What can you say about this kind of life?
05:29We are just like this.
05:31We are just rising.
05:32But are you rising?
05:34No.
05:35Why do you think?
05:36Because of the price of onions.
05:39The price of onions is not getting better.
05:41It's not getting better.
05:42What do you want your children to be?
05:45I want them to study until college.
05:48My dream is to be a teacher.
05:50I want to be a soldier.
05:52I don't want them to live like me.
05:58From the fields, the onions are brought to buying stations like this.
06:04Where the onions are taken out from the bags to be sorted according to size and quality.
06:12After that, they will return it to the bags and put it here to wait for the buyers.
06:21How many bags did you sell yesterday?
06:23Last night, we sold 1,125 bags.
06:27Really?
06:28Yes, yesterday.
06:29Yes.
06:30How many days did you sort the onions?
06:33Every day.
06:35But why is the Philippines rising in onions?
06:39If we have hectares of it.
06:43The harvest season of onions in our country is only every February to April.
06:49It is not enough to meet our needs for the whole year.
06:55To solve this, in the 90s, the Philippines started to increase its onions from other countries.
07:04The onions we import are cleaner and bigger.
07:08That's why some consumers prefer it.
07:12But if we're talking about quality,
07:15it is not safe for the onions we import to be tastier and more crispy.
07:22The government also imports onions to ensure that the price of onions will not increase.
07:29Just like what happened in 2022,
07:32the price of onions per kilo increased to Php 700.
07:35It hurts the pockets of our consumers.
07:38But when it comes to importing, the key to all of this is the right timing.
07:42Not like what happened this year,
07:45when the government rose in February,
07:48in full swing during the harvest season of our farmers.
07:53That's why the ending is,
07:54they are at a loss.
07:56They are at a loss.
07:59Mang Heron, a farmer, said that the cost of planting onions in two hectares of land in Barangay Pesa is Php 700,000.
08:10One hectare is around Php 350,000.
08:13It is expensive and labor-intensive.
08:17He expects to earn around Php 500,000 this year.
08:24It means that he will lose Php 200,000.
08:28Because they have the competence to import onions,
08:33which are even cheaper to sell in the markets,
08:36the cost of selling white onions should be Php 80 to Php 110 per kilo.
08:42Now, it's just Php 30.
08:46While the cost of selling red onions should be Php 120,
08:51the cost of selling white onions is just Php 45.
08:54That's why he will not earn anything from this.
08:58They say that if you have onions in your food, you will feel rich.
09:02And if you smell onions, you will ride a bus,
09:05and the passengers will know that you are feeling rich.
09:08It's good that you can still make jokes, Mang Heron.
09:11Now, if you smell onions,
09:13You will smell like a farmer.
09:14The situation in life will be a bit better.
09:17It's a big loss.
09:18It's a big loss for you.
09:20We, as senior citizens,
09:22can now get the maintenance and food at the price we have lowered.
09:28Do you still consult with the government?
09:31We often talk to them.
09:33Importation should be done when we have a shortage of supplies.
09:41There is nothing wrong with importing.
09:43I just hope that the rice is finished
09:45so that it is not accompanied by the price of the traders when buying onions.
09:49If there is a shortage, they should have imported much, much earlier.
09:53We average around 30,000 metric tons of onions every year.
10:00Our battle cry is,
10:02as much as possible,
10:03the importation should not be accompanied by the harvesting of onions.
10:07I asked Undersecretary Sheryl Marie Caballero of the Department of Agriculture,
10:12why did the government import onions,
10:16now that it is out of stock?
10:19In this context,
10:20there is a need for the gap to be adjusted.
10:24This should have been done earlier on, sometime in December.
10:28So, the implementation of the measure to allow the importation was delayed.
10:33But what we are looking at is,
10:35when it comes to a large amount of onions,
10:39it was already anticipated by the DA.
10:41So, the Secretary just allowed the import to be stopped.
10:45What they are asking is,
10:46isn't the importation timing wrong?
10:51I think you started importing in February,
10:53which is also the harvest time for onions,
10:57especially in Bungabon, Nueva Ecija.
10:59Why is it like that?
11:01The harvest time will normally be in March.
11:06So, the arrival of the importation approved by the Secretary for 3,000 metric tons
11:13is for February.
11:14This was discussed through the Onion Alliance Team,
11:18where the farmers, industry, and the DA
11:22will have consultations.
11:24So, there was a recommendation or agreement sometime in December
11:29that there will be an importation.
11:30So, it will not be spilled over in March,
11:33where most of the harvest will arrive.
11:35We think, and the appreciation of the Department,
11:38there should be a storage for the harvest.
11:43So, our question is,
11:44with all the storage provided by the DA,
11:46there should be an opportunity and prioritization
11:50for those in Bungabon,
11:52because we have a lot of cold storage in Nueva Ecija.
11:55Our entry point is cooperative,
11:57because we cannot support each one.
12:00The cold storage they provided,
12:02we are maximizing it.
12:04We already have a room full.
12:06All are local produce
12:08that comes from real onions.
12:11There should be a capacity of more than 1 million bags
12:15and they will put it there
12:17so that the people there can buy
12:19cheap and high-quality onions
12:21that comes from the local produce.
12:24The problem with storage is that electricity is expensive.
12:29We have market linkages through the cadiwa of the President
12:33where we help them bring their products
12:36so they can sell directly.
12:38Nueva Ecija was hit by a typhoon last November.
12:45Our onions were destroyed.
12:48Many of the onions that were stored were destroyed
12:52and were not used.
12:54Instead of planting onions again,
12:57many farmers decided to plant tomatoes.
13:04Many people plant tomatoes
13:06because it has a lot of seeds.
13:08It doesn't look like just one in Cebu.
13:10But when will they plant the tomatoes?
13:14The farm gate price has also dropped.
13:18Before, it was P160 per kilo.
13:21Now, it's only P4 per kilo.
13:24Our farmers are in great loss.
13:28And they also teach the reason,
13:30oversupply.
13:32They just throw away the tomatoes.
13:41That's why some of the farmers in Bungabon,
13:44no matter how hard they try,
13:45they just choose to throw away the tomatoes.
13:49It's the same with us.
13:50We don't bring it to our family.
13:51We will return it.
13:52We won't sell it.
13:57Tomatoes.
13:59That's one of the main ingredients of many Filipino dishes.
14:03And if the weather is hot like this,
14:05it's time to harvest the tomatoes.
14:08But here in Nueva Ecija,
14:10because of the price drop,
14:12they just give it away.
14:14Or the tomatoes are piled up on the streets and farms.
14:21Here in Barangay Vega,
14:23the tomatoes are piled up
14:25from Richard's farm.
14:27They just let it rot.
14:30Richard used to be a seaman.
14:32This land is one and a half hectares.
14:35He has been working on the ship for several decades.
14:38When he stopped being a seaman in 2019,
14:42he decided to just plant tomatoes here.
14:45How much do you harvest here?
14:47One hectare.
14:48If there's a change,
14:49even if it's less,
14:50it's around P200,000.
14:51P200,000?
14:52Usually, if the price is good,
14:54how much do you earn in P200,000?
14:57Last year, we were able to meet the price of P70,000.
15:00We earned P1M.
15:01Really?
15:02But now?
15:03Now.
15:04It's a loss.
15:05It's a loss.
15:06It's good,
15:07but the price is low.
15:08Why?
15:09The supply is over.
15:10Then what do you do
15:12if the price drops like this?
15:14We just sell it to the people who harvest.
15:17Wilma is one of Richard's tomato harvesters.
15:21It's really hard in the countryside.
15:23You really need to be patient.
15:26She's with her 16-year-old son, Cyrus,
15:30in planting tomatoes in the fields.
15:32Even so, it's hard for him to walk.
15:34To be honest, we don't want him in the fields.
15:37But he really likes it.
15:39They used to earn P500 per day
15:42every year.
15:44But when the price of tomatoes dropped,
15:47they only had to pay half of it.
15:50We were able to sell 100 chickens
15:53in the morning and evening.
15:54And for the other 100,
15:56we were saddened by the price of tomatoes
15:58because the price was low.
16:00What can you say
16:02to the farmers who planted tomatoes?
16:05We had an oversupply.
16:07We planted at the same time,
16:09and we sold at the same time.
16:11Antimano cannot be absorbed by the market.
16:14What we're looking at is how to bring this
16:17systematically.
16:18And we have the blessing of Pangulo Platform
16:20so they can direct to market.
16:22Didn't they tell you not to plant at the same time?
16:26Because the price is not good if you do that.
16:29We have a cropping calendar.
16:32This is the right time to plant.
16:34Sometimes, they want to sell at the same time.
16:37It means that's the time
16:39that either they win or they lose.
16:41But they look at it right away
16:43that if they sell at the same time,
16:45the price will be higher.
16:46What if everyone planted tomatoes at the same time?
16:48That's what happens when there's an oversupply.
16:54We plant tomatoes here in August.
16:56There's a storm coming.
16:59We planted this in October.
17:01So that the tomatoes planted by Richard and Wilma
17:05won't be wasted,
17:07To The Rescue,
17:09the Rural Rising Philippines,
17:11an organization that helps farmers
17:14through their so-called Rescue Buy.
17:18We put a double price
17:19to get the middleman here in Metro Manila.
17:23They use their own money,
17:24A's and Andy's money,
17:27to save the tomatoes
17:29and other products of the farmers.
17:32There are also people who give donations to them.
17:35Before we went there,
17:36we paid for the truck,
17:38for the farmers,
17:40and of course, for the farmer.
17:43It's sweet.
17:44How many crates are these, Richard?
17:46I think there are about 50.
17:48We are thankful to the Rural Rising Philippines
17:51for coming here.
17:52Thank you for doing this.
17:54Because it's really heartwarming
17:56to see the tomatoes planted.
17:58Richard said,
17:59this is the legal gamble.
18:01You're not betting on anything,
18:02on cards or luck.
18:03You're betting on yourself.
18:05Can you continue this?
18:06Can you save this?
18:08Some of the tomatoes
18:10that were rescued by the Rural Rising Philippines
18:13were planned to be given
18:15to Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City.
18:18Our program was successful
18:20and we will be the one to bring it.
18:25Thank you very much to Rural Rising.
18:27They will be our lunch,
18:29maybe in the afternoon.
18:31We're also asking private sector,
18:33LGUs,
18:34national government,
18:35to really market in Manila.
18:37These tomatoes.
18:38And in other areas,
18:40where the tomatoes are not enough or expensive,
18:42we will really resolve the process of tomatoes
18:44so that the harvest can be benefited
18:46and our farmers can earn more.
18:48Do you have a program
18:49so that the tomatoes won't be planted?
18:52The medium-term intervention
18:54is to have dehydration facilities
18:56to absorb the excess production.
18:59If it's dehydrated,
19:01then it can last for several months.
19:04Is it still fresh tomatoes?
19:06It's still fresh in the sense that
19:08it's just dehydrated.
19:09We can use it in Pakbet.
19:11Just add hot water
19:13and it will expand again.
19:15I think they'd like to hear this from you.
19:18If you can feel it
19:20and if you can hear them.
19:22These are their requests.
19:24We go around all throughout,
19:26different commodities,
19:27different groups.
19:28What we can see in the direction
19:30of our Department of Agriculture
19:32is that there will be sustainability
19:34and profitability for the farmers.
19:37The farmers should love it
19:39because this is the backbone of the economy.
19:43The situation of our farmers now
19:46is like the destruction of onions
19:49that makes them cry.
19:51Because of the oversupply,
19:56not only the tomatoes and onions
19:58that are thrown
20:00are rotting and wasted.
20:03The hardship and sacrifice
20:06of our farmers
20:08is getting worse.
20:11Blood and sweat.
20:24Thank you for watching, Kapuso.
20:26If you liked this video,
20:29subscribe to the GMA Public Affairs YouTube channel
20:33and don't forget to hit the bell button
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