Ilocos Norte as PH garlic capital pushed

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MANILA, Philippines — The House Committee on Agriculture and Food on Tuesday approved on second reading a bill declaring Ilocos Norte as the garlic capital amid the country’s heavy reliance on imports to meet local demand.

In his explanatory note for House Bill No. 4337, Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba said the province has “maintained its rank as the top [garlic]-producing province in the country, contributing 55.7 percent or 4,161 metric tons to the national aggregates.”

It has also consistently produced over 4,000 MT of garlic annually with 1,880 hectares of land devoted to the root vegetable, he added.

Declaring Ilocos Norte as the country’s garlic capital “will serve as an inspiration to boost production in the country and ensure competitiveness in both domestic and foreign markets,” Barba said.

A Bureau of Plant Industry report presented to the House committee in August showed that for the first quarter of the year, total garlic supply was at 27,912 MT against the total demand of 37,331 MT.

The bulk of the supply or 23,141 MT was imported while 4,971 MT was locally produced. In the second quarter, total supply was at 18,229 MT against demand of 36,373 MT.

A total of18,183 MT were imported while only 46 MT came from domestic production. The third quarter of the year saw 20,653 MT of garlic entirely imported to meet the total demand of 36,945 MT.

—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE

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