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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
February 11, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said all imported onions should arrive by Feb. 20 to prevent the outsourced bulbs from competing with local produce amid criticism from farmers.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa explained that the importation of onions is necessary to prevent retail prices from surging, saying that it is difficult to bring down costs once prices spike.
He noted that onion prices have already reached as high as P200 per kilogram.
“(Agriculture) Secretary (Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.) wants the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to ensure that there will be no extension on the arrival date of until Feb. 20, again this is to protect our farmers,” De Mesa said.
Tiu Laurel has approved the importation of 3,000 metric tons of onions and 1,000 metric tons of white onions amid the increase in the retail price of the bulbs.
However, De Mesa emphasized that the volume is minimal compared to the country’s monthly consumption of 17,000 metric tons.
“This will only be good for one week. The bulk of the harvest is in March so the imported onions will not reach the peak harvest. This is just to ensure that we will have no shortage,” De Mesa said.
The DA’s decision comes after the 2022 onion crisis, when retail prices soared to P720 per kilogram due to shortages and hoarding.
Farmers’ groups have strongly criticized this decision as the harvest season has begun and is expected to peak in March and April.
Former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor called the move ill-timed, pointing out that onion harvest has already started in key producing areas, including Bayambang in Pangasinan, San Jose in Occidental Mindoro and Bongabon and Laur in Nueva Ecija.
In response to concerns about the timing of the imports, De Mesa emphasized the importance of a balanced approach, stating, “We need a careful balancing act to protect our farmers, but we also need to consider our consumers.”
Onion farmers described the decision to import bulbs as a “double whammy” as plantations in Nueva Ecija, the country’s onion capital, are currently being attacked by armyworms.
Victor Danipog, an onion farmer from Nueva Ecija, said farmers have yet to recover from the losses incurred due to storms in November last year, followed by the recent worm infestation.
Assessment failure
Farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Monday revealed that the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) failed to include the onion stocks in cold storage facilities when it reported a deficit of at least 7,000 metric tons for this month.
SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet told The STAR that the BPI only informed onion farmers about the supposed shortage when it organized a Zoom meeting with stakeholders on Jan. 30.
“How did the BPI come up with the data (of 7,000 metric tons shortfall in the supply) when the harvest has yet to start and it did not include the inventory in the cold storages,” Cainglet said.
Based on data from the BPI, the current stock of red onions stands at 7,305 metric tons, while the expected harvest for February is only 10,167 metric tons.
The agency also reported that the country’s monthly consumption is at 17,566 metric tons of onions.
Cainglet noted that farmers were surprised by the presence of importers during the meeting.
“During the meeting, the BPI already discussed the application for sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance. Farmers panicked as the BPI already presented data on the shortage of onions,” Cainglet said.
Some onion farmers decided to harvest early because of the announcement of BPI on the need to import bulbs, Cainglet added.
“We are just echoing the sentiments of the farmers that the farmgate price of onions will go down because of the announcement of BPI on the impending importation,” he said.
As of Feb. 7, local red onions were priced at P172.60 per kilo, while local white onions were sold for P118.08 per kilo.
Meanwhile, imported white onions were available at P122.31 per kilo.
