The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking into the possible importation of white and red onions during “lean months” or no harvest season this year, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official revealed on Thursday.
The import plan seeks to ensure the adequacy of the supply of the commodity and prevent a possible price increase.
“It will ensure that we have enough supply all throughout the year, taking into consideration that we actually have lean months of local produce,” DA Assistant Secretary Christine Evangelista said.
“We also need to consider when the onions will arrive, what is their shelf life. And of course we will help our farmers to make their prices competitive,” she added.
The DA earlier said that only a fraction of the more than 21,000 metric tons (MT) of onions that were authorized for importation had arrived in the country.
In January, the DA gave the green light for the importation of 21,060 MT of onions to fill the supply gap and arrest the continuous spike in the price of the commodity in the market.
The volume allowed for importation is broken down as follows: Fresh yellow onion—3,960 MT; Fresh red onion—17,100 MT.
Licensed importers were given until January 27 for their shipments to arrive in the country.
However, DA Assistant Secretary and deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez said that only 5,000 MT of onions were applied for importation during the import application window period.
“What arrived at our first border control was only 3,500 MT,” he said.
Imported onions were reportedly being sold for P180 to P200 per kilo, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is also the concurrent DA secretary, to call a meeting of stakeholders to discuss the development.
The importation program of the DA did not sit well with onion farmers.
Onion Farmers Philippines’ James Ramos said that the DA failed to consult them before approving the importation plan.
Meanwhile, Estoperez refuted this claim.
“It is not true that we did not consult the farmers for onion importation. We consulted farmers before approving the importation of onions,” he said.