The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) criticized the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on October 4 which claimed that pineapple is the “most profitable agricultural product for Filipino farmers.” The group belied this statement saying that thousands of farmers in Polomolok and Tupi in South Cotabato who are under contract growing agreements with Dole Philippines (Dolefil) are obliged to sell their produce to the company at an extremely low rate.

UMA exposed that Dolefil buys pineapples from farmers for as low as ₱5 per kilo, and not ₱19.37 per kilo as claimed by PSA. At this rate, PSA’s claim that farmers earned an average net income of ₱658,097 per hectare of pineapple farm in 2020 is only an illusion.

In real terms, farmers only earned an average gross income of ₱202,100 per hectare. Each hectare of land yields around 40,422 kilos pineapples per year.

Their actual gross income is only ₱404,220 for a three-year crop cycle as pineapples bear fruit after 18 months from planting. This means that their gross income is only ₱134,740 per hectare annually. But minus the production cost of ₱124,881, their net income for three years is only ₱154,458 or only ₱4,290.50 per month.

On the other hand, Dolefil posted a net income of ₱284,273 per hectare for a three-year period or ₱94,757 per hectare per year, or almost twice higher compared to the income of farmers.