Farmers want onion importation stopped

CHEAPER ONIONS Customers buy white onions at discounted prices from the Kadiwa Store at the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Onion farmers in Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan are appealing to President Marcos, who is the concurrent Agriculture Secretary, to stop the entry of  imported onions until the end of November as they continue to incur losses in selling their produce.

Members of the Nagkakaisang Magsisibuyas ng Nueva Ecjia, Pangasinan at Mindoro trooped to the Department of Agriculture’s main office in Quezon City on Monday to present their case before the agency.

The farmers said the Philippines has more than 3 million bags of onions that can be sold to the market.

However, they are barely making any profit despite offering onions at discounted prices. According to onion farmers, they are spending more as the price of storage ranges from as low as P75 to as high as P110 per kilogram.

“Because consumers prefer smaller ones, we cannot just release our produce from cold storage facilities. No matter what we do, our sales are decreasing,” the farmers said.

“We believe that in this situation, it would be best not to allow the entry of imported onions until the end of November. Instead, it is prudent to use up all our existing supplies first or at least half of it,” they added.

Importation, they said, would only benefit countries where onions will be sourced instead of local producers who are in need of support from the government.

They are also urging the DA to monitor the situation and strike a balance between stabilizing supply and keeping retail prices in check.

Buffer stock

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) earlier said the importation of red onion was being considered to build a buffer stock although the country has enough supply until mid-December.

BPI Assistant Division Chief of National Plant Quarantine Services Division Henrick Exconde had said they were evaluating the existing inventory to ensure that consumers would not run out of the commodity, especially during the holiday season.

Retail prices

The country might need to secure 34,000 metric tons of red onions good for two months. On a monthly basis, the per capita consumption of red onions is 17,000 MT.

So far, the country’s red onion stocks have reached 78,674.80 MT, based on the BPI’s tally as of Aug. 11. All these are produced locally.

Local red onion retails from P120 to P190 per kg in Metro Manila from P140 per kg a year ago, based on the Department of Agriculture’s price monitoring as of Monday.

Imported red onion is not available. INQ

RELATED STORIES

DA chief holds off SRP for onions

Order to import 8,800-MT white onions out this month, says DA