Farmers want onion body abolished

BONGABON, Nueva Ecija— Farmers and local officials here are pushing for the abolition of the National Onion Action Team (NOAT), a special body formed by the Department of Agriculture to protect onion growers, because some of its members have also become importers.

NOAT assesses the country’s onion stock and recommends the volume of onions that should be imported by the Bureau of Plant Industry.

But during a recent farmers’ forum here, Nueva Ecija provincial administrator Alejandro Abesamis said there was a conflict of interest for some NOAT members who are also onion importers.

He mentioned the Kapisanan ng Samahan ng mga Magsisibuyas sa Nueva Ecija (Kasamne) and the Bagong Sigla Credit Cooperative (BSCC).

Mayor Allan Gamilla told the farmers that Kasamne and BSCC imported onions during the recent harvest period. He also described an anomaly involving one of the cooperatives which may have sold some of their import permits to a Manila businessman.

Gamilla said Kasamne was granted 30 permits to import yellow granex onions under the government’s “Farmers as Importers” program while BSCC acquired 76 permits.

He said he was disappointed that farmers’ cooperatives like BSCC and the Magsasaka ng Barangay Vega Producer Cooperative have decided to import onions.

According to him, he did not check every warehouse in the town but was able to gather data as to how much onions had been stocked.

Abesamis said Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali fought to include provincial representation in the NOAT, resulting in the appointment of provincial agriculturist Serafin Santos and Bongabon municipal agriculturist Lucena Ceña as team members. But Santos and Ceña were not invited to recent NOAT meetings, Abesamis said. Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon