Filipino farmers leave crops to rot as fuel prices drive up cost of harvest

Filipino farmers like Romeo Wagayan have ⁠been left with little choice ⁠but to let their vegetables rot in the ⁠field rather than sell them at a loss, as rising oil prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East drive up the cost of harvesting, labour and transport. “There’s nothing we can do,” said Wagayan, a 57-year-old vegetable farmer in the northern Philippine province of Benguet. “If we harvest ‌it, our losses only increase because of labour, transportation and packing costs. We don’t...