A social enterprise helping farmers in the country called for help for a family of farmers who were unable to sell their vegetables even after even after lowering their prices.
Rural Rising Philippines (RuRi), a non-government organization that conducts “rescue buys” for farmers, posted on Thursday, January 5 about the plight of a family of farmers who had to “bury” their unsold broccoli.
RuRi noted that the site was at the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT) in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
The enterprise described the terminal as “a place where farmers go to have their hearts broken.”
“This place has become a regular graveyard of vegetables, a place where farmers go to have their hearts broken,” RuRi said in its post.
It then appealed to its followers for donations with a note or message to these farmers who have lost more than a ton of their harvest.
Donation channels were provided on the post.
“If this moves you to give, any amount big or small, we shall accept and solemnly promise to use it to buy the insurance. We ask that you include a note or message of hope, we shall convey that too,” RuRi said.
RuRi accompanied its post with photos of what the unsold broccolis look like. Screenshots of its private chat with the farmers were also shown.
The chats showed how much the farmers needed to throw away and how little they earned from their crops.
RuRi has been helping farming communities from several parts of Luzon sell their excess crops through its “rescue buy” initiatives since early 2021.
It also advocates agri-entrepreneurshup in the countryside.
READ: ‘Call for succors’: How you can donate old clothes, food to farmers, fisherfolk | Local farmers struggle with unsold excess crops amid pandemic. Here’s how to help.
The sad story of broccoli farmers
A family of farmers was supposed to sell carrots, cabbages and broccoli at the NVAT.
Continuous rains, however, caused the crops to ruin and rot quickly before they can be sold.
They were only able to sell a few hundred kilograms of their produce while the rest went to waste.
Such a situation prompted them to call RuRi for help.
The enterprise, however, told them that they were already too late.
RuRi shared this story about the farmers in a previous post on January 3.
“Oh, if only these farmers messaged earlier, RuRi could have found a way to help them. As it is, we’re three days too late to save two truckloads of carrots and cabbages. The produce is too far gone — nalusaw! nabulok! — to do anyone any good. Not the poor farmers, not the consumers,” the organization said.
“They also happen to have Broccoli, mas marami, 1.8 tons. But my gosh, they messaged two days too late,” it added.
RuRi also said that the farmers became desperate that they were willing to sell the broccolis for P15 a kilogram.
“In their desperation, they were willing to give the Broccoli for P15/kilo. Yes, P15, rolled pa yun. How much does Broccoli work in Metro Manila supermarkets? Twice that, ten times that, twenty?” it said.
RuRi then said that it promised the farmers to purchase their next set of harvested broccolis.
It asked help from its followers to comment “me” to know to whom they’ll send a private link for the purchase of the farmers’ fresh batch of broccolis.
