Magtanim ay di biro (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)
January and February
are the coldest months
in Benguet Province.
The arrival of the cool
northeast wind
signals the maturity
of the cabbage plants.
The farmers of Buguias
and took care of these cabbages
for five months.
They tilled the land…
sowed seeds…
and took care them.
They toiled for five months
and hoped.
But in the end…
many ended up discarded.
The Plight of the Cabbage
Farmers
It was the peak
of the cold season
when we went to Buguias
in the province of Benguet
But despite the cold,
the farmers continued
to harvest.
I’m heading to Jenaret’s farm.
They’re one of the families
in Buguias
who have been planting cabbages
for a long time now.
Janaret was just six years old
when she learned
to plant vegetables.
She inherited this small plot
of land on a mountainside
from her ancestors.
Hello, Ma’am.
Are you selling today?
Tomorrow, Ma’am.
How much was your capital?
Around 40,000 pesos.
To regain the capital
of 40,000 pesos,
they need to sell every kilo
of cabbage for 20 pesos.
That’s why Janaret carefully
selects the cabbages
they’ll bring to the market.
But it’s not just the condition
of the cabbage
that dictates its price.
Janet says this livelihood
is a gamble.
Sometimes, no matter
how good the quality
of your harvest is,
you can still go home
with a loss if you encounter
stingy buyers.
Some luck out
and get good prices
but if you plant late,
then that could mean
you’ll be stiffed.
But we don’t really know.
It’s a gamble.
What is a gamble?
Farming. We’re just always
hoping to hit the jackpot.
A matter of chance?
Yes, Ma’am.
They said they’ve had bad luck
in the market for months now.
But because their cabbage
harvest are good today,
Janaret is hoping that maybe
luck will finally find them.
If they get lucky,
they’ll be able to sell their
cabbages for 20 pesos per kilo.
They’ll make 40,000 pesos
so they’ll break even.
But if they’re unlucky,
they’ll only get 10 pesos
or even less per kilo.
That’s a very big loss for them.
They packed nearly three tons
of first class cabbages
for La Trinidad Trading Post.
I hope this will finally
come back
with good tidings
for her family.
Before we left Janaret,
we saw some kids playing
in the field.
Too bad this will just
go to waste, ma’am.
That will become fertilizer.
– What?
– That will become fertilizer.
Only fertilizer?
Yes, when it rots.
You can’t sell this?
Buyers will be stingy over
that at the trading post, Ma’am.
Especially if it’s small.
Janaret said buyers
in La Trinidad
are very picky these days.
They push for a really low price
if the size is not accurate.
So instead of selling them,
they opt to just throw them.
Anyone would feel a great loss
over seeing tons of cabbages
worth 30,000 pesos
to 50,000 pesos
thrown out as garbage.
No one wanted to buy them.
And the price offered was so low
that’s why we opted
to just take them back.
Benguet farmers have had
the supposed problem
of cabbage oversupply
for months now.
According to authorities,
only a few buyers go up so there
are a lot of leftover cabbage.
The unsold cabbage is just
thrown on the side of the road.
If you ask the Department
of Agriculture,
they blame the oversupply to
farmers planting too much of it.
But is oversupply
the real reason
why farmers are getting pinched?
The local government
has different view.
Importation has an effect.
Vegetables like carrots
are entering our country.
So, buyers don’t go up anymore
to Benguet
because they can get supply
in Manila.
Dandy spent several years
studying
how to farm vegetables
in Buguias.
A former public school teacher,
Dandy decided to become a farmer
to enrich the land he inherited
from his parents.
Like other farmers,
Dandy is wondering why the price
of cabbage
is so low in the market
when they did not change
anything
in their farming process.
In the past,
they used to be able
to sell a kilo for 20 pesos.
Back then, we went directly
with our produce
to the warehouse of the buyers.
Yes.
All our vegetables
are purchased.
We didn’t return with any
or throw them away.
Now, it’s as if we’re just
giving them away.
Why do you say that?
What’s different now?
There are no more buyers.
So, we either just let them rot
in the trucks
or throw them on the road side.
If we bring them back to use
as compost,
the trip will incur
a big crude expense.
Dandy harvested four tons
of cabbage from his farm.
Each cabbage
is of first class quality,
grown in the good climate
of Benguet
and cared for with fertilizer.
Hopefully, they can recoup
their expenses.
The next day,
the vegetables were transported
early to La Trinidad.
The trip took four hours.
I hoped the vegetables didn’t
bruise in the journey.
I became a little worried
when I saw the amount
of cabbages in the trading post.
Is this what they call
the oversupply?
Will Dandy and Janeret
sell their cabbage?
Mostly cabbages and potatoes…
I thought they only needed
to talk to one person
to sell their produce.
But I learned that several steps
need to be followed
before a sale is made.
There is the disposer who offers
the cabbage
to buyers or purchasers.
You can’t go directly to buyers.
How about the money you earn?
You need to stop by the disposer
and for every kilo you sell,
they get a one peso commission.
How much do you think
that will sell for?
Cabbage sells for 10 pesos
a kilo today.
10 pesos?
Why 10 pesos?
It depends on the amount
that arrives.
If there’s a lot of vegetables,
prices really fall.
If there’s few, prices go up.
This is 10 pesos?
As long as it’s green
and the leaves
are still attached?
– Yes.
– And this?
This is what we call
second class.
This is second class?
That will fetch for 6 pesos
or 7 pesos or 8 pesos.
There’s something
lower than 7 pesos?
Yes.
What does that look like?
– Similar.
– Now there’s a third class…
What does third class look like?
Similar but lower quality.
It will go for 3 pesos.
What? 3 pesos only?
Why just 3 pesos?
That’s the way it is.
There’s nothing we can do.
It’s a gamble.
People will ask, “how come
it’s so cheap in Benguet
but here it’s expensive?.”
The vegetables have
to be transported.
Just because it’s 4 pesos here,
it’s also 4 pesos there.
How will our bosses make money
to pay for our salaries?
Rudy is one of the purchasers.
They bring the cabbages to sell
to wet markets in Divisoria.
He’s an expert in haggling
for lower prices.
What’s the selling price today?
There’s 12, 8 pesos and 7 pesos.
It depends on the quality
of the vegetables.
How about these?
That’s first class.
We can’t say they’re bad
but they won’t pass the orders
I received.
Too big?
No. It’s not clean
and there’s something.
Once the purchaser
and disposer agree on a price,
the men called “por dia”
come in.
They will repack the cabbage
before they leave La Trinidad.
Each are paid 400 pesos.
I only had one question
after I learned the low haggling
prices at the trading post,
will there be something left
for the farmer at the end?
What would be
the break-even price?
On a good harvest,
the break-even price for cabbage
would be 25 pesos and above.
25 pesos per kilo?
Yes, hopefully.
But the actual price that day
was far from the 25 pesos
per kilo they hoped for.
Dandy’s four tons of cabbage
was only sold for 11 pesos
per kilo.
So yours was bought
for 11 pesos?
– Yes, Ma’am.
– And that’s okay with you?
Yes. But it’s not enough.
I opted for it because otherwise
they’ll just rot in the farm
or left behind here.
You’ll just make do
with that price?
Yes.
We’ll just try again.
Maybe the price will be higher
next time.
If Dandy’s cabbage only sold
for 11 pesos,
I wondered how Janaret fared?
We still have something left.
Something have left?
How much is it?
Her husband Juni was in-charge
of selling their cabbages.
He waited for a whole day
at the trading post before
he found a buyer.
The result…
he sold his cabbages
for 10 pesos per kilo.
Some haggled for as low
as 7 pesos.
Then of course,
there’s the commission.
You sold it for 10 pesos
but your take home is 9 pesos?
– Yes.
– Then this is 6 pesos.
That’s what our boss said.
How much did they buy it
for earlier, 7 pesos?
6 pesos.
So, what’s the total?
22,815 pesos.
Juni made a total
of 222,815 pesos.
I thought he’d be able to bring
that home to Janaret but…
What expenses?
Paper used.
The paper cost.
The paper cost 4,000 pesos?
Paper and plastic.
Newspaper, plastic and?
The por dia, the men who packed.
The packers.
The plastic and paper
are expensive.
The plastic and paper
are expensive?
The paper cost 1,100 pesos.
1,100 pesos for newspaper?
It’s only a newspaper, huh.
Plastic at 1,000 pesos.
1,000 pesos just for plastic?
Yes. 1,000…
Then the por dia?
– Four.
– 1,600 pesos.
– Only four.
– 1,600 pesos?
So how much is the total
expenses?
– 4,400.
– 4,400?
So what will be their take home?
We’ve subtracted.
18,000 pesos? 18,000 pesos, Sir.
But Juni’s obligation
doesn’t end here.
He needs to pay the truck
that delivered the cabbages.
9,500 pesos, right?
9,500 pesos.
Does that include oil?
Yes.
I looked at what’s left
in Juni’s hand.
And I remembered
the work Janeret
put into every cabbage planted.
How much is left with you?
– 8,820 pesos?
– 8,700. 8,820 pesos?
Who else do you need to pay?
– The harvesters?
– Yes.
How many?
– 12.
– 12?
How much each?
– 200 pesos.
– 200 pesos?
2,400 pesos? 2,400 pesos.
8,800 pesos?
8,800 pesos minus 2,400 pesos…
6,400 pesos will be left
with you.
Just to buy rice.
It’s really a loss.
We’ll just have to plant again.
Plant again?
Yes.
Maybe we’ll get lucky.
Their capital was 40,000 pesos.
They toiled for five months.
In the end, all their labor
will be haggled down
and end up with just
6,000 pesos.
Not far from La Trinidad
Trading Post,
there’s a wet market
that sells cabbages.
When I asked them
what the price was,
I learned that a kilo there
sells for 25 pesos.
And when we went down
to Baguio City…
How much is the cabbage?
50 pesos per kilo.
50 pesos?
Baguio is only an hour away
from La Trinidad
but the original price
of 10 pesos pero kilo of cabbage
already went up to 50 pesos.
Why is it cheaper
at the trading post?
Yes. Before it gets here,
it’s been passed several times.
– Oh!
– Just like this.
I ordered from one
of our suppliers there.
– Yes.
– He padded the price.
But this is
from the trading post?
Yes, this is
from the trading post.
We have labor cost
in removing the leaves.
We buy that with the leaves.
So, when you buy, they’re still
wrapped in leaves?
Yes, then we clean them.
Okay, you clean them.
That’s why it becomes
50 pesos here.
It’s probably more expensive
in Manila.
Yes.
In the wet markets in Manila,
the price per kilo
is 80 to 100 pesos.
Does Janaret know their product
is priced this much?
What will you feel if after
five months of intense labor,
the produce that you cared for
so much
only fetched 10 pesos per kilo?
You think about how hard
the labor was
and you even got the kids
to help.
The low price is kind
of insulting, Ma’am.
Because…
you expected a good price,
but what did we end up with?
This is not the first time
Janaret lost money in the sale.
For the sake of her children,
they know they can’t stop
farming.
Why do you continue to farm?
Even if things have turned out
this way,
we still hope that we get
the chance to be able to pay
our debts.
It’s really a gamble, Ma’am.
How much do you owe?
Going maybe to 200.
Oh, no. 200,000?
Yes, Ma’am.
How will you pay
your 200,000 pesos debt?
We have to continue farming
and hope for luck…
that we’ll be able to pay.
There’s a saying that a person
who knows how to farm
will not go hungry.
But it seems this is not true
for the farmers in Buguias.
This is why Janaret
is working hard
to put her children
through school.
They dream that someday
their children will escape
the fate of tilling the land.
There’s nowhere else
we can go to, Ma’am.
There’s nowhere else.
We don’t want to steal or…
do bad…
– Do bad things?
– Yes.
So, we’ll just endure
all of this.
The Plight
of the Cabbage Farmers
The Plight
of the Cabbage Farmers
In going around Buguias,
I learned that Janeret
is not the only one
who suffered bad luck.
At the foot of a hill,
we came across what could be
described as a cabbage cemetery.
Farmers worked hard on growing
these cabbages
for five months.
But because they know
they’ll just lose money
if they sell this
in the trading post,
some farmers in Buguias just opt
to leave the product
of their labor to rot here.
In our culture,
the season of harvest
is a season for celebration.
But today, this is a season
for sadness.
They have to bury the cabbage
that they labored to grow.
What will you do
to these cabbages?
Will you sell them?
No. They’ll be fertilizer.
How?
As compost.
So, you’ll just let them rot?
Yes.
You won’t sell them?
Why not?
The price is too low.
Because the price is too low.
How much will they fetch
in the market?
2 pesos.
Why just two bucks?
What did they say?
The big ones are oversized.
The big ones are oversized?
If their cabbage will fetch
only 2 pesos per kilo,
they won’t even make enough
to pay the delivery truck
and gasoline.
There won’t be enough
for transportation.
And?
Then you still have to pay
the por dia
who will carry the produce
to the vehicles.
– Yes.
– It’s worth one peso.
– It’s worth one peso?
– Yes.
You’ll lose money?
Yes.
Why would you bother
to harvest…
if no one will buy?
The season of harvest…
has also become the season
of tilling.
Which includes turning
into compost
the cabbage that they worked
hard to grow for five months.
According to the report
from the regional field office
in Cordillera
and the local government,
it was confirmed
that there was no oversupply
of primary vegetables
in Baguio Trading Center
and in La Trinidad.
In fact, there’s a reduction
in production in 2023
if you compare it to 2022.
We tried to ask the opinion of
the Department of Agriculture,
but they refused
to make a statement.
On January 8,
the Department of Agriculture
released news that the price
of cabbage
is back to normal.
There is no oversupply
because all the cabbages
in the wet markets are sold.
Now I understand why only
a few vegetables
are brought to trading posts.
It’s because instead
of harvesting them,
they are left to rot.
The Plight
of the Cabbage Farmers
The Plight
of the Cabbage Farmers
Until now,
the government could not explain
the real reason
for the price drop of cabbages.
Some blamed the farmers
for planting too much.
Some suspected smuggling.
And some said this is the result
of importation
from other countries.
Whatever the reason,
only one thing is sure…
farmers are the only losers
in this situation.
The people who worked hard
in the fields
will go home in tears.
I used to think
that pests and typhoons
are the only enemies of farmers.
But after witnessing
what happened
to the farms in Buguias…
I learned that the real enemies
are neither the pests
or typhoons.
The bigger enemies…
are people.
I am Kara David,
and this is I-Witness.
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