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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Saturday said that the current farmgate price and P250 per kilo suggested retail price (SRP) of onion is fair to farmers after factoring in losses due to recent weather disturbances.
“Very fair na yan sa ating magsasaka. We have already factored in yung kanilang mga losses dahil sa mga nakaraang bagyo,” said DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista in a DZMM-Teleradyo interview.
(That is very fair to our farmers. We have already factored in their losses because of the past storms.)
Evangelista said the farmgate price used to be around P460 / kilo.
After meeting with farmers and other stakeholders, the DA said that it was possible to peg the farmgate prices at P190 to P200 and eventually set the SRP at P250 / kilo.
“Kaya po iyon ang ating napagkasunduan, na bababa ang farmgate price.Then we expect na magkaroon ng ripple effect sa retail price,” said Evangelista.
(That is what we agreed upon, that the farmgate price will go down. Then we expect that there will be a ripple effect in the retail price).
The DA official said that the retail price of onions will likely further decrease, with the expected harvests by mid-January.
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