GUIMARAS – The farmgate prices of fruit vegetables here slightly plunged in 2020, the Crops Production Survey (CrPS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
These fruit vegetables included ampalaya or bitter gourd, eggplant (long, purple), jackfruit (green), and squash.
“For ampalaya, farmgate prices decreased by 8.64% or P3.68/kg from P42.57/kg in 2019 to P38.89/kg a year after,” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.
The same trend was observed on eggplant (long, purple), with a reduction of 5.74% or P2.89/kg, and jackfruit (green) with 15.99% or P2.20/kg decrement in 2020 over its 2019 prices.
The survey also found that farmgate prices for squash recorded a cutback of 9.46% or P1.98/kg, from P20.93/kg in 2019 to P18.95/kg in 2020.
For six comparative years (2015-2020), increment on the farmgate prices on fruit vegetables was noted in the last three years (2018-2020), higher than its farmgate prices for the years 2015-2021.
“Continuous increment on the average farmgate prices on fruit vegetables especially for ampalaya, and eggplant, were observed for the years 2018 to 2019, the farmgate prices dropped in 2020 after reaching its peak in 2019 at P42.57/kg and “50.36/kg, respectively,” Losare said.
There was a slight swivel on the average annual farmgate prices for jackfruit green and squash from 2015 to 2017, and a downfall in the price for jackfruit green was observed in 2018, while squash price picked up.
The decrease in prices of the four fuit vegetables was due to the increased production in 2020 compared to its 2019 outputs. Moreover, farmgate prices in 2020 were higher than the average farmgate prices back in 2015./PN
