Transformation of the Vegetable Trade

Vegetable traders also changed their practices after the economic crisis. In the mid-1970s, the large-scale traders essentially abandoned Buguias. They continued to buy and sell vegetables in Trinidad, but now they purchased from small dealers rather than from individual growers. Russell (1983:93) argues that the introduction of light utility vehicles allowed a new group of small-scale traders to insert themselves between growers and wealthy dealers. As these small traders struggled among themselves, long-term dealer-farmer obligations gave way to more competitive bidding. The large traders then found it more profitable, and less risky, to retreat to Trinidad where they could remain one step removed from the vegetable growers.

Although this scenario partly accounts for the transformation

of trade in Buguias, it must also be noted that the large-scale traders' abandonment of Buguias coincided with the rise of the New People's Army in the local hinterlands. Local interpretations of this timing vary considerably; while some claim that the wealthy capitalists feared imposition of a "revolutionary tax," others argue that the two developments were coincidental.

In any case, by the mid-1980s, a new and diverse system of vegetable trading had emerged in the upper Agno Valley. To this date, the large agribusinesses of northern Buguias municipality continue to transport produce in large trucks, but for the most part they haul only what they grow on their own farms. In Buguias Village, however, almost all vegetables are now carried in light utility vehicles. Of the twelve such trucks present in the village in 1986, five were owned by full-time traders, the others by farmers who transported their own crops and, for a small fee, those of their neighbors. These part-time traders increasingly sell their produce not in Baguio but rather along the Mountain Trail. Tagalog traders, recognizing the trend, now drive up the highway to flag down passing trucks, hoping to haggle a better deal from the road-weary farmers than would be possible in Baguio.

The five full-time vegetable dealers of Buguias presently operate on a local scale and drive small vehicles, but otherwise their practices mirror those of the large-scale traders of the precrisis days. Farmers often sell to the highest bidder, but many are again in debt to, and thus tied to, a specific trader. In some respects farmer-dealer obligations were strengthened in the mid-1980s when traders began to sell rice. They can undersell (or, as is more usual, "underlend") store owners, both because they subsidize their own transport costs (it is inefficient not to carry a backload), and because they do not pay as much tax as a store proprietor. As this has deprived shopkeepers of their most profitable commerce, many now devote most of their time to their own fields, opening their businesses for only a few hours a day.

Despite the adverse economic climate, an ambitious and resourceful individual may still prosper in the vegetable trade. At present, one dealer in particular runs a thriving business, and he may well reach the position of baknang in the space of a few years. This man had been an ordinary farmer when an injury forced him to seek another line of work. Beginning as a commissioner (pur-

chaser) for another trader, he soon graduated to full partner. Not long afterward he bought his own small truck (soon to be joined by a second) and established an independent business. Some observers have attributed his initial success to a simple but clever (and exhausting) tactic: he would tour the Baguio market each evening to discover which vegetables were short, rush back to Buguias to secure a supply, and then return to Baguio in time for the next day's sales.