Stabilize prices, abolish control – fishers
Credit to Author: Eireene Jairee Gomez| Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:10:38 +0000
AMID the increasing retail prices of galunggong (round scad), the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) is calling for stabilizing its prices by decisively abolishing the “konsignasyon” system or control of middlemen in the country’s fish trade
The group proposed that fish ports or “landingan” should be turned over to fishermen cooperatives to get rid of private traders’ control.
Pamalakaya National Chairperson Fernando Hicap, in a statement on Sunday, said galunggong farm gate prices are very low, but the stocks pass through four to five middlemen or private consignation, who secure their profits by marking up that eventually pushes up retail prices at the markets.
“This system is a disadvantage to the producer and consumer. This is what should be abolished to stabilize the price of galunggong and other fish in the market),” Hicap said in Filipino.
Galunggong prices have reportedly increased from around P150 to P170 per kilogram (kg) to P250 to P300/kg in some markets in Metro Manila.
Due to low supply, Department of Agriculture (DA) Agriculture Secretary William Dar has allowed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to proceed with the importation of 45,000 metric tons (MT) of galunggong and other small pelagic fish.
Pamalakaya, however, recalled that when the DA-BFAR imported 17,000 MT of galunggong last year, the fish’s farmgate prices dived to P60/kg, affecting small fishermen. Also, retail prices remained high at P150 to P170/kg.
”Thus, the latest approval to import from China and Vietnam would also impact the small fishermen but does not guarantee the pulling down the retail prices,” said Hicap, also a former Anakpawis Party-list representative.
He stressed the approved volume to import equates to more than a quarter of galunggong production last year of 168,000 MT, which he claimed will “seriously pull down self-sufficiency.”
“It’s clear that the importation will not pull down the prices, because the importers themselves will not import too much as they will coincide it at a time when they would profit, while the small fishers will suffer,” Hicap said in Filipino.