DA seeks higher budget to boost vegetable supply

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is scrambling to get additional budget to boost local vegetable production amid accelerating inflation of the commodity group.

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

The surge in vegetable inflation has been flagged as one of the contributors to faster overall headline inflation in the country. Officials attributed the uptick in vegetable prices to weather disturbances that caused supply disruptions.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation of the commodity group vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses in September accelerated to 19.4 percent from 10 percent in August.

In particular, inflation of leafy or stem vegetables, where broccoli belongs to, remain elevated at 16.8 percent despite being slower than the 24.5 percent recorded in August.

Inflation of other vegetables, which include carrots and onions, accelerated to 25.6 percent, its fastest rate in two years, based on PSA data. The commodity group of other vegetables do not include fruit-bearing vegetables and green leguminous vegetables that have their own specific price growth indexes.

Inflation of the three commodities in the National Capital Region were even faster compared to the national average.