Cordillera peasant groups and community members formed the Kanatengan Network to unite vegetable farmers across the region in defense of their rights and to advance concrete changes to state policy.
The network was established after a two-day gardeners’ workshop on July 13–14 at Mount Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province, led by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) and its ally Alyansa dagiti Pesante iti Kordiliera (APIT TAKO, or Cordillera Peasants Alliance). The activity had about 100 participants representing various vegetable-farmer organizations and peasant communities in Benguet, Ifugao and Mountain Province.
The new formation was named Kanatengan Network to highlight the well-known cluster of towns in the Cordillera across the three provinces that produce a large share of the mountain region’s vegetable supply. These areas are also dubbed the Philippines’ “vegetable belt.”
The activity coincided with efforts to gather data on vegetable production. Farmers presented detailed records of the costs of planting temperate vegetables such as cabbage, yardlong bean, sweet peas, potato, and chayote. This information clarified the severity of the crisis facing farmers and prompted the forming of the Kanatengan Network.
Workshop participants emphasized the main factors causing widespread losses among farmers. These include very high production costs, from farm inputs to transportation, together with wildly fluctuating market prices. Farmers also expressed concern about smuggling of imported vegetables and other effects of a liberalized vegetable industry. They said these destroy local production and further worsen their vulnerable condition.
Participants discussed adopting six immediate demands: 1) implement a just and fair floor farmgate price for vegetables; 2) grant farmers adequate agricultural subsidies; 3) build the long-promised farm-to-market road and repair broken roads; 4) stop importing vegetables that directly compete with local harvests; 5) lower interest rates and land rents; and 6) reduce agricultural input prices.
The Gardinero Workshop and the launch of the Kanatengan Network were also supported by the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center (CWEARC) and KATRIBU – Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas, or Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines.
