The Philippine government identified three levels in the value chain: farmgate, wholesale, and retail. Agents, traders and millers are clustered in the wholesaler side, but transactions on the ground in Guimba showed that farmgate prices identified by the Philippine Statistics Authority may be different from the actual amount farmers receive.
Farmgate prices increase by 50% as they make their way to the consumer’s table – that is the rule of thumb in Nueva Ecija.