Farmgate price only P100-P120 per kilo
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — A fishers’ group blamed yesterday middlemen for the exorbitant cost of galunggong or round scad fish, as it noted that the farm gate of the fish ranges at only P100 to P120 per kilo.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that the government has therefore no basis to import 45,000 metric tons of galunggong.
“There are plenty of fish in our seas. Why would the government feed its people with imported fish which are inferior in quality and pose health risks, when we can have different varieties of fresh, locally-produced marine products?” the group said in a statement.
Pamalakaya urged Agriculture Sec. William Dar “to cancel his order (to import) in the name of the fishers’ and consumers’ welfare.”
“Importation would not stabilize the infl ation because the so-called middlemen system is highly prevalent in our fish ports and markets. The middlemen are the ones who control and dictate the market price, which is way higher than the farm gate value,” the group said.
Pamalakaya leader Fernando Hicap slammed the Department of Agriculture “for failing to learn from the lesson of the last year’s importation order of 17,000 metric tons of galunggong.”
“It pulled down farm gate prices as low as P60 per kilo, while retail prices remained at P150 to P170 per kilo,” he recalled.
Hicap also noted that “the present’s retail prices at P300 to P350 per kilo reek of profiteering as farm gate prices are at P100 to P120 per kilo.”
“The agriculture department must focus on strengthening the livelihood capacity of municipal fisherfolk across the country to boost fisheries production,” Hicap said.
The group expressed fears that the planned fish importation could pull down farm gate prices lower than P100 per kilo.
“Importation failed to pull down retail prices last year, obviously because the market is controlled and dictated by monopoly traders. Lalong mawawalan ng halaga ang huli ng mga mangingisda sa pagpasok ng panibagong mga imported,” Hicap lamented, as he warned the imported fish could be laden with formalin.
“We call on the Filipino consumers to reject and denounce this importation move by the Duterte administration, and support our small fishers by buying local marine and aquatic products,” Hicap also said.
