Onion growers in the hinterlands of General Santos City believed that the crop they once relied on for their livelihood years ago may again depend on it for a more stable stable future for their families.
This is the contention of Merlinda Donasco, chief of the city agriculturist office after it revived orientation and training for the production of onions among farmers in Bgy. San Jose.
“This is the thrust of the new governance in the Department of Agriculture which wants to tap the potential of areas in the Philippines to be onion baskets of the country,” she said, adding, “Secretary Alcala is an official with a proven track record of incorruptible public service and understands that farmers constitute the backbone of our economy.”
Onion growers hope that Alcala would be their ally in fighting influential smugglers and corrupt government officials whom they refer to as “pests that are killing the onion industry.”
In the past few years, thousands of metric tons of smuggled onions from China and India aboard 40-footer container vans have been intercepted at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), South Harbor, including the ports in Subic and Batangas but ultimately found their way to Divisoria and other public markets of the country.
Years ago, onion farmers in San Jose, taking advantage of the area’s favorable climate, were able to produce an ample supply of the region’s bulb onion needs.
This time, CAO is planning to expand the coverage of onion farming in the city up to the barangays of Katangawan, Ligaya, Mabuhay and San Isidro to widen market opportunities.
“With the help of our seed companies who have been supporting us, the venture will surely work,” Donasco added.
Earlier, onion farmers from the Sibuyas ng Pilipinas ay Ating Alagaan Foundation (Sipag), rued the continued entry of imported onions, particularly “through the country’s backdoor, Mindanao,” referring to Cagayan de Oro and Davao City ports.
They had observed that vessels offload onions via Cagayan de Oro and Davao ports, which are then transported to the Visayas and Luzon aboard inter-island vessels. The imported onions, they complain, are being sold openly in Manila’s Divisoria and by several big chain retail supermarkets in the entire country.
The group pointed out that the last time the DA issued onion import permits was in January 2010 or a period of one year and five months ago, and yet onions in cold storage have a shelf life of only 10 months. “That means that the imported onions are smuggled,” the group insists.
Alcala had earlier vowed to work for the blocking of agricultural and livestock imports to benefit local growers.
He said that he is supporting moves to impose a 35 -percent tariff on pork offals and to continue to stop the importation of onions, although the final decision would still be made by the Tariff Commission.
Alcala also reassured onion growers that he would continue to protect the sector from the entry of imported onions, and even personally appeal to the Bureau of Customs to investigate the continued entry of imported onions by big retail and commercial establishments.
Sipag renewed its appeal to the DA and the BoC to focus anti-smuggling efforts in Mindanao to which illegal shipments from China and India have been diverted. Onion growers said, following Alcala’s decision to stop issuance of onion import permits, that they farmers are benefitting from farmgate prices of P100. Sipag president Francisco Collado, however, warned that with the reported shipments from Davao to the Visayas and Luzon, “our efforts would be useless.” [WITH C. SULIT/CPIO]
