The Department of Agriculture (DA) said supply of upland vegetables and onion this year may hit a surplus but the production of lowland vegetables and garlic will fall short of demand.
In a virtual briefing yesterday, DA director for high-value crops U-Nichols Manalo said supply of carrots, cabbage, white potato, pechay Baguio and habichuelas will be 193 percent sufficient this year as production will reach 815,633 metric tons (MT) against a demand of 422,060.84 MT.
Onion production is seen hitting 290,382 MT versus a demand of 257,865.
For ampalaya, eggplant, squash, tomato and string beans, local sufficiency level would only hit 80 percent as total supply will be at 1.27 million MT compared to a demand of 1.59 million MT.
Garlic production will be at 6,169 MT against demand of 139,868 MT or a mere 4 percent self-sufficiency level.
