The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) held a policy dialogue on July 3, 2026, to discuss the key findings of the PCC market study on highland vegetables, focusing on carrots and cabbages.
Participants discussed the study’s findings, which identified four main competition issues in the highland vegetable value chain: production and profitability constraints faced by farmers; imbalance in market power and bargaining positions between farmers and intermediaries; weak correlation between production levels and wholesale and retail prices, reflecting the extent to which increases in supply might translate into lower consumer prices; and constraints affecting market access and the distribution of harvests, which limit farmers’ ability to capture a larger share of the value of their produce.
During the dialogue, DA-CAR representatives shared operational initiatives that reinforced the study’s findings. Consistent with the study’s observation that high production costs and limited technology adoption continue to constrain the profitability of smallholder farmers, DA-CAR highlighted its ongoing initiatives to strengthen the region’s agricultural logistics network by upgrading warehouses, trading centers, storage, and processing facilities, as well as expanding other market infrastructure and transport systems. They also highlighted their support for accredited farmer cooperatives and associations by providing trading capital, consolidation centers, processing facilities, warehouses, and hauling vehicles, with the aim of improving product aggregation, enhancing supply chain efficiency, and strengthening farmers’ bargaining power. In addition, DA-CAR emphasized its technology-sharing partnerships with Japan and Korea, which facilitate the exchange of agricultural knowledge and production technologies to help improve local farming practices.
The PCC and DA-CAR exchanged policy insights to refine the market study’s analysis and inform its final recommendations. The discussion ultimately strengthens the study’s findings and supports the development of evidence-based competition policy recommendations for the highland vegetable sector.
As part of its mandate to advance the National Competition Policy, the PCC conducts market studies to support the development of pro-competitive policies and regulatory reforms across government. Policy dialogues provide a platform for engaging sector regulators in discussing the findings of these studies, fostering evidence-based policymaking and promoting more competitive and efficient markets.
