𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗦
Press Release: On Monday, February 14, the City Government of Borongan convened different offices for a coordination meeting to address concerns involving the rising prices of commodities in the city. The meeting was attended by the City Agricultural Office, the City Veterinary Office, the Borongan City Public Market Office, City Information Office, the City Cooperative Office, as well as various stakeholders and constituents.
During the meeting, the main issue discussed was the price increase of meat products in the market. Consumers raised complaints of the price of pork hitting PHP 300 per kilo. In defense, pork sellers noted that the reason behind the increase is the lack of pig supply. Due to this, vendors struggle to get a low ‘live weight’ buying price – that is, when pigs are weighed before being slaughtered – due to competition from buyers from outside the city.
"Noon tag-PHP 150 ‘yung live weight, PHP 280 per kilo ng karne ‘yung pagtinda namin. Ngayong PHP 180 na ang live weight, tinaas namin ng PHP 300 per kilo para hindi naman kami lugi," a pork seller from Borongan City Market explained.
However, hog raisers countered that meat vendors buy ‘live weight’ at PHP 150 per kilo, not PHP 180. Moreover, data show that Borongan City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda’s Dukwag Agrikultura program helped achieve swine sufficiency as early as November 2021. This means that Borongan City is self-sufficient in pork production. Of all the pigs raised in Borongan, 60% is supplied to the city while 40% is bought by traders to be sold in nearby municipalities. Thus, it is clear that there is no pork shortage in Borongan City and the rising prices are both unreasonable and unnecessary.
The following steps were agreed upon by concerned offices to further drill down to the root cause of this issue and resolve it with utmost urgency:
1. The City Public Market Office headed by Napoleon Bebita will conduct a public forum to be attended by the city public market vendors, hog farmers, and consumers to discuss the pricing system of commodities in the market. This dialog aims to answer why the price of commodities are high. This will also ensure that traders, producers and vendors are publicly transparent with their pricing processes.
2. The immediate solution for the city is to provide an opportunity for hog raisers and agriculture producers in the Tabuan every Saturday. This will allow registered Borongan City farmers to directly sell their products without the need for middlemen.
3. In the long run, the City Government led by the City Agriculture head Macario Gabornes and City Cooperative Office head Jojito Acla will assist Dukwag Agrikultura producers to organize and form a cooperative that will empower them with the needed entrepreneurial skills to bolster their capacity to market their own products at a reasonable price. This is seen as a big win for both producers and consumers.
4. The Borongan City Veterinary Office is also set to launch one of the best slaughterhouses in the region by the 2nd quarter of 2022. This will help modernize meat production in the city, making it more efficient and safe for public consumption.
5. The city will mobilize its concerned agencies to continue monitoring the price of basic commodities, and ensure that the consuming public is not being taken advantage of.
Dukwag Agrikultura seeks to support the backbone of food security frontliners in the city, most especially our farmers. The implementation of this program is guided by an inclusive principle to benefit not just our farmers but also consumers who are continuously affected by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, we appeal to our fellow Boronganons to contribute in creating an environment of free trade and commerce that is equitable to all residents.
Rest assured that the City Government will not stop until we get to the bottom of this issue. A thorough inquiry will be conducted and all the resources of the City Government will be used to enforce existing ordinances and national laws to create a better environment for local consumers and producers. The traders and market vendors will be given the opportunity to explain to the public the reason for their pricing, especially in the context of prevailing circumstances in Borongan. The City Government is prepared to present it’s data in the upcoming public forum. In the meantime, the City Government will create more programs to empower food producers to become successful entrepreneurs in their own right, eventually providing them the facilities and skills they need to sell their own products.
#DukwagAgrikultura
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