The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) urged the government to extend to other commodities the moratorium on importation which has been ordered on onions recently.
SINAG lauded the “prompt action” of Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in imposing an import moratorium on onions as this “game changing policy is a welcome development to local producers.”
“We also hope that this pro-local farmer policy can extend across commodities, especially chicken which is experiencing a similar glut in the local market,” said Jayson Cainglet, SINAG executive director, in a statement.
Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, said the suspension on onion importation will mitigate the sharp drop of farm gate prices from the current range of P50 to P70 per kilogram when harvest starts in February.
But Fausto also noted the possibility of surplus due to bumper harvest.
“The import suspension definitely will cushion the drop in prices and will provide hope to the farmers that they will still recover their cost and make money,” he said in a text message.
Fausto said government can buy the onions at reasonable farm gate prices if prices go down below production cost and store them in cold storage facilities which they can lease if there are no sufficient space to store onions.
SINAG noted in agriculture, policies must be timely, appropriate and prompt to reflect the prevailing conditions at the farm level.
Laurel’s order on onions is a timely intervention as the farmgate prices have significantly dropped.
Meanwhile, Cainglet said a significant drop in farmgate prices indicates a glut of supply of a particular commodity, mainly due to the deluge of imports.
Poultry farmers in this case have complained farm gate prices are almost at par production cost because of the flooding
of imported chicken.
Cainglet said unfortunately, the decrease in farm gate prices is not being felt by consumers as chicken prices remain high.
“The local agriculture industry (has) no problems with imports if there is limited supply and as long as importers declare the right value of imports and pay the right duties,” he added.
The suspension on onion importation is in effect until May but may be extended through July especially if domestic harvest of the high value crop remains sufficient to meet local demand.
In some areas in Nueva Ecija, which accounts for 97 percent of onion production in Luzon, prices have dropped to as low as P20 per kilo.
Monitoring in public markets in the National Capital Region as of Friday showed the price of local red onion is at P110 to P200 per kg; imported medium red onion at P80 to P170 per kg; local white onion at P70 to P140 per kg; and imported medium white onion at P80 to P140 per kg.
In December 2022, prices of onion surged to a record high of P720 per kilo due to tight supply.
The DA is also now providing assistance to affected onion farmers in several towns in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac due to armyworm infestation.
The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said 366 hectares out of the 10,217 hectares of farm lands planted to onion have been infested by army worms. These are in the towns of Bongabon and Talevera and Palayan City in Nueva Ecija and the towns of Anao and San Manuel in Tarlac.
