Ilocos Norte farmers seek help as chili prices take a dive

IT IS  a summer of discontent for red chili farmers in Badoc, Ilocos Norte.   

Since the implementation of a total lockdown in the province, Charito Jose, a red chili grower in the remote Balbaldez village of Badoc town, said there has been a drastic fall in the prices of their produce that they even refuse to harvest because the extensive labor and the amount they would earn from sales would not be enough to compensate them.

Local farmers, particularly the small ones, are in great distress. Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, red chilies were as hot in the market with prices ranging from PHP400- to PHP800 per kilogram.

“For now, we could hardly sell it to outside traders because of strict quarantine measures,” Jose said, even as he noted that the premium variety is now being sold at a mere PHP20 per kilogram compared to PHP400 during the same period last year.

Last Saturday, members of the Ilocos Norte First Provincial Mobile Force Company who were distributing relief aid to some indigent seniors in Badoc towns saw the plight of chili farmers and volunteered to help in harvesting their produce so they could sell it to local consumers.

“Our small-time farmers are helpless so we volunteered our services just so they could at least earn a little in this time of crisis,” said Police M/Sgt. Noel R. Abad, team leader of the Ilocos Norte First Provincial Mobile Force Company.

With the help of some friends from the Bakers and Restaurant Association of Ilocos Norte (BRAIN), Abad’s group initiated the transport of the farmers’ produce directly to some local restaurants in the province.

“We are buying some of their produce and process it into chili oil or flakes so we can help them at least,” said Maria Theresa Labayog, owner of Miguel’s Green Garden Cafe and Snackbest in Laoag City.

Basilio Pagdilao Jr., Balbaldez village chief, hopes the government will take up some market intervention measures or provide them good seeds so they could plant anew. 

Meanwhile, some restaurant owners in the province said farmers could dry their chilis for now and preserve it until the lockdown is over.

In Balbaldez village alone, almost all farmers in the community planted red chili early this year, expecting that they would earn as high as they did last year, but the Covid-19 health crisis broke out and the price collapsed. (By Leilanie Adriano)