By Manny Piñol
The Philippine Bulb Onion production has increased to about 70% of the total national requirement satisfying household consumption for the first time in history.
Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Evelyn Laviña, who heads the High Value Crops Program, said that the dramatic increase in the local Onion production is the result of the expansion of planted areas in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Mindoro, Iloilo and some parts of Mindanao where farmers are starting to plant in small areas.
In Mindoro Occidental, former tobacco fields are now planted to Onion.
The DA’s Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program has enabled farmers to expand their planted areas.
This is the first time in the history of the country that Onion farmers have produced enough to supply household needs.
This was achieved in just two and a half years of the Duterte Administration.
The DA is now aiming for a 100% self-sufficiency before the end of the term of President Rody Duterte.
The sudden surge in Onion production however, has resulted in the drop of farm gate buying price from P30 to only P12.
The DA has released funds to allow farmers cooperatives to buy and store their members produce.
The quality of the Onion produced by Filipino farmers has also greatly improved.
Yesterday, a farmer from Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, Dan Alfaro, proudly brought to the Office of the Agriculture Secretary samples of Onion produced in Bongabon.
An Indian official who saw the samples in the DA office today was impressed by the quality which he described as “export quality.”
Next year, the DA has programmed the establishment of six cold storage facilities in the different Onion production areas of the country.
This early, however, the country’s Onion Farmers are already preparing to resume the export of Shalots or Onion to neighboring Indonesia.
(Photos of the samples of Onion harvested by farmer Dan Alfaro in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija were taken by Rheeda Cabrera)
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