Local government units should require mandatory registration for agricultural traders to protect farmers and fisherfolk from predatory buyers who purchase produce below production costs, according to the advocacy group Ipabitag Mo (IBMI).
IBMI executive-director Apple Meneses said municipal and city agricultural offices must take an active role in curbing widespread abuse by unscrupulous middlemen. Meneses noted that requiring traders to register with local agricultural offices would allow the government to monitor trading activities, screen for legitimacy, and evaluate business practices.
The group reported significant neglect of food producers by both national and local authorities, citing instances where predatory traders failed to pay farmers even after negotiating low purchase prices.
“LGUs, through mayors can easily act against these abuse of our farmers by implementing a monitoring system. Mandatory registration will enable our LGUs to swiftly implement this all over the country,” Meneses said.
IBMI chairman emeritus and anti-corruption advocate Ben Tulfo said a grassroots monitoring system is necessary to distinguish legitimate buyers from counterfeit and abusive ones.
“It is high time that we protect our farmers from this apparent still rampant abuse. And our mayors and governors can take charge of this job by simply implementing a system where they can monitor the agri traders that do business with their farmers and fisherfolk and welcome the ‘legit’ and fair ones, and block the predators,” Tulfo said.
The call for regulation follows a recent case in the Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, where a trader from a neighboring town allegedly failed to pay local farmers for their crops. IBMI is coordinating with the Science City of Munoz government to craft an ordinance establishing a mandatory registration system.
Tulfo suggested that while ordinances are being developed, local chief executives can immediately issue executive orders to begin the registration process and protect the country’s food producers.
Under the proposed system, traders would be monitored to ensure they do not exploit the sector, where some farmers are forced to sell at rates significantly lower than the cost of production, sometimes losing 50 percent or more of their expected revenue.
The group cited examples where traders offered as low as P5 or P10 per kilogram for vegetables that cost P15 to produce.
