Expand support for local onion growers, Hontiveros urges DA | Inquirer News

Expand support for local onion growers, Hontiveros urges DA

By: - Reporter / @zacariansINQ
/ 07:24 AM January 17, 2023

Risa Hontiveros. STORY: Expand support for local onion growers, Hontiveros urges DA

Sen. Risa Hontiveros (INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday called on the Department of Agriculture to expand support for local onion growers, particularly by providing them with irrigation and cold-storage facilities.

Hontiveros made her call in a statement issued on Monday following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent acknowledgment of the need to extend assistance to the producers and growers of agricultural products.

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“As mentioned by DA officials themselves, better access to irrigation will allow onion growers to plant even during traditional ‘off-seasons,’ and cold storage facilities will enable onion stocks harvested from February to April to last all the way to the second semester of 2023,” Hontiveros said..

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“These reforms are needed so that high onion prices will soon be a thing of the past and not a yearlong trigger for tears for Pinoys,” she added.

Hontiveros reiterated that importation should “not be the government’s answer whenever prices of onions, sugar, eggs or other products increase.”

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“If left unchecked, importation is a double-edged sword which can slash the already meager earnings of our local farmers and other agricultural workers,” she said.

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She said she was hoping that the Malacañang’s earlier announcement of “calibrating” the importation of onion products was a “firm policy commitment and not an empty promise, for the sake of our farmers and their livelihood. “

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According to Hontiveros, the Marcos administration should instead adopt a two-step policy.

First, import only half of the 21,060 metric tons of onion authorized by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

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Second, wait for the local onion harvests to check if they could sufficiently meet the nation’s demand before importing more.

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TAGS: onion farmers, Onion prices, onion supply

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