Onion farmgate price drops to P47/kilo
PHILSTAR
MANILA, Philippines — With the farmgate price of onions dropping to P47 per kilo, a farmers’ group has urged President Marcos to intervene as farmers fear that the price will plummet to P10 per kilo.
In a radio interview over the weekend, Nueva Ecija Onion Farmer Association (NEOFA) member Jimmy Vistar criticized officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) for their failure to address the decline in the farmgate price of onions.
“Yesterday, the farmgate price of good-quality onions dropped to P47 per kilo in the afternoon, from P55 to P60 per kilo in the morning. Onion growers were hoping that we can finally earn after two consecutive years of suffering losses, but we are only break-even as the cost of labor is high, including the price of fertilizer,” Vistar said.
He added that the peak harvest season would last until next month.
“Many onion farmers will harvest in the first or second week of April; by that time, the farmgate price could reach P15 per kilo. It’s not even break-even,” the NEOFA member said.
Onion farmers will experience the same situation that happened in 2022, according to Vistar.
“Last year, we had a bountiful harvest, but the farmgate price reached P4 per kilo, and a big volume of our harvest rotted. We tried to bring our produce to the market, like outside Metro Manila, but traders only bought the onions at P6, P7 per kilo. We brought a truckload of onions, but the vendors only purchased kilos,” he said.
He added that the government should provide storage facilities to address the post-harvest issue of onion growers.
“Some of the cooperatives have cold storage, but these are limited. The cold storage is controlled by traders. We know what is really happening on the ground. Last year, I suffered losses totaling to tons of onions,” Vistar said.
“The cold storage facilities are not really full, but the traders pay for the entire warehouses to make sure there will be no space for farmers. They buy onions at P12, P14 (per kilo) and store them until such time they sell the bulbs at P500, P600, P700 (per kilo),” he added.
In December last year, the retail price of onions reached P720 per kilo following shortage in the supply.
Traders were allegedly colluding with brokers to manipulate the farmgate price of onions, according to Vistar.
“One modus that the buyers employ is to hire at least 10 brokers in Nueva Ecija. One broker will approach a farmer and offer a farmgate price of P55 per kilo. Afterwards, another will arrive and offer P50 per kilo and we can no longer contact the first broker until the farmgate price dropped to P47. We decided not to sell as, obviously, we are being duped,” he said, noting that no DA official has visited onion farmers to address their concerns.
“Sad to say, we have no support from the DA. Nobody visited us. Farmers are on their own in trying to sell their harvest,” he added.
Farmers are hoping that Marcos will personally look into the plight of the onion growers, according to the NEOFA member.
“This has been happening for years, now that the President is also the DA secretary, he should know what the real situation is on the ground, and not just depend on the report of officials who only stay in their offices,” Vistar said.
Last Saturday, DA spokesman Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said the DA would implement the floor price for onions as their farmgate price reached as low as P40 per kilo.
Evangelista added that the imposition of the floor price was already discussed with the farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura to prevent farmers’ experience, where the farmgate price of onions dropped to as low as P10 per kilo.
