The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will stop selling lower priced onions at its Kadiwa rolling stores starting today, January 13, in the absence of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with suppliers.
DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said the previous MOA with suppliers expired last December 31.
Evangelista said talks are ongoing with the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), which acted as procurement body under the previous MOA, for a possible supplemental agreement so Kadiwa stores can resume the sale of onions.
But Evangelista said the cost structure could change under a “second cycle” of procurement.
She added the DA wants to continue offering lower priced onions at Kadiwa outlets if retail prices remain high.
The DA, however, is also exploring all options in sourcing for new suppliers the “soonest” and “most prudent” way possible.
Prior to this, the DA offered native red and white onions for P170 per kg with each customer allowed to buy a maximum of three kilos at Kadiwa outlets.
Kadiwa stores have been selling the P170 per kg onions since the issuance of the DA Administrative Circular No. 9 last October 7 which sets the suggested retail price of medium-sized red onions in National Capital Region (NCR) wet markets at P170 per kg.
The native onions sold at Kadiwa outlets were supplied by farmers from Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Tarlac.
The DA’s monitoring of select wet markets in NCR, yesterday showed retail price of local red onion ranges from P340 to P550 per kg.
