Fight The Cartels! ‘Why Import Red Onion When We Could Plant?’

Next month, with the help of friends who support my advocacy in boosting local production of agricultural commodities which our farmers could plant, I will initiate the establishment of an Onion Experimental Farm in Central Mindanao.
The idea of re-introducing Onion farming in Mindanao came about following my journeys to the vast countryside of Central Mindanao where farmers told me that they planted Onion in the past but gave up because of low buying price.
While this will be a private sector initiative, I will involve the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), now headed by Director Remelyn Recoter, and the Dept. of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Unit 12 under Dr. Sailila Abdula.
Onion, both white and red, could be grown in several parts of the country and even farmers in Mindanao had tried planting the crop before but the deterrent had always been the instability of the buying price.
The problem of Onion supply and pricing in the country is the fact that just like rice, Onion supply and pricing is controlled by a cartel of importers and traders who operate the cold storage facilities.
When I was DA Secretary, I addressed this problem by establishing more cold storage facilities, the last of which was in Miag-ao, Iloilo where Onion farmer leaders were even sent to India to learn modern technology in Onion farming.
Director Recoter was DA Regional Director of Western Visayas when the Onion Production Program was launched in Miagao, Iloilo.
There was something that we missed though and this was the establishment of a complete value chain from planting to storing and marketing.
In Central Luzon, for example, the cold storage facilities built by the DA for farmers cooperatives, ended up being leased to importers and traders since the coops did not have enough financial resources to buy their members’ produce and store this for up to 8 months.
With these lessons, the Central Mindanao Onion Production Initiative which I will personally lead will involve the complete value chain where farmers, with the help of ATI and DA, will be taught Onion farming technology.
The private sector will come in to provide the seeds and inputs complete with a marketing agreement which will assure the farmers of stable prices.
Cold Storage facilities will be established near the production areas with the private sector handling the marketing for the whole of Mindanao.
This is the only way we could fight the Onion Cartel and ensure that Onions, oftentimes bought from farmers at only P20 during peak harvest season, will not be hoarded and sold at the insane level of P600 per kilo.
Mindanao will lead the fight to liberate our Onion farmers from the control of the Cartels and protect our consumers from outrageous prices beyond the reach of Filipino families.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#AdvoacySansSelfInterest!
(Photo of red Onion downloaded from Shutterstock website.)