INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said it has improved its direct market linkage initiatives in a bid to stabilize onion prices and help raise the income of farmers.
The DA said the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) and its regional counterparts will better connect food growers with market vendors and buyers.
“The market linkage activity, as well as transport and logistics support, forms part of the interventions of the national government to local onion farmers, ensuring affordable food products in the market,” it said in a statement.
The DA noted that AMAS and Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division in Nueva Ecija had provided logistical support to two multipurpose cooperatives in the onion-producing town of Bongabon.
READ: Nueva Ecija onion farmers reel from entry of imports
Kadiwa delivery trucks, it noted, were used to help farmers with their “perennial problems on logistics and transportation.”
The DA also said that through this initiative, a total of 4,260 kilograms of red onions and 610 kilograms of white onions were delivered to the L. Sanchez Farm, Batangas City Rural Improvement Club Marketing Cooperative, Ridad Integrated Farm, and Agripreneur Farmers and Producers Association.
Market vendors in the Guadalupe Market and Las Pinas City Public Market also received a volume of the onions, it added.
The cost of red and white onions in Philippine local markets have skyrocketed since the latter part of 2022.
Based on the price monitoring of the DA as of March 1, a kilogram of local red and white onion costs between P90 to P180.
This is lower compared to the record-high P700 per kilogram of onions during the holiday season but still much higher than the P50 to P80 range in the same period last year.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is the concurrent chief of the crisis-marred DA. He previously said he is willing to appoint a full-time secretary but only when he has sorted out the mess that is causing a shortfall in basic agricultural commodities like sugar and onion. — Kimberly D. Albaño, trainee
RELATED STORIES
President to give up DA post when food crisis over
Onion prices worldwide much lower, deepen questions on incredulous costs in PH
Agriculture in PH: Barely surviving migration, conversion, poverty