DA upgrades early-warning system to prevent vegetable losses

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is upgrading its monitoring system to track upcoming harvests and weather patterns, aiming to prevent vegetable gluts, price collapses, and crop dumping before they occur.

“We want to move from reacting to problems to anticipating them. The monitoring system will give us alerts on upcoming harvests, weather disturbances, and other developments that could affect the supply chain to help us trigger assistance earlier," said DA Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness, Marketing, and Consumer Affairs Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra in a statement.

The DA official said that regular harvest projections will enable better planning, and real-time farmgate price tracking will protect farmers from middleman exploitation. Additionally, the system's automated alerts will prompt swift government aid for logistics and market stability whenever supply issues arise.

Moreover, the Agriculture department plans to partner with other government agencies and public programs to purchase surplus highland vegetables during peak harvest times to avoid oversupply.

It can be recalled that truckloads of carrots, pechay and cabbage were dumped along a roadside in Tublay, Benguet, with farmers blaming an oversupply of vegetables and a lack of buyers.

Aside from the early-warning system, the DA is also seeking to build mega cold storage and vegetable processing facilities to address oversupply of vegetables.

"What happened in Benguet this year may also be called force majeure, with excessive rain hobbling the supply chain," said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. in a statement.

“Our long-term solution is mega cold storage and vegetable processing facilities. We have set aside funds for 2027, and those facilities will be located beside the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center," he added. —KG, GMA News