DA commits support for onion industry

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) assured onion growers of its support for the industry.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar held a dialogue with onion farmer leaders from Nueva Ecija and Occidental Mindoro earlier this week to come up with strategies to make local farmers more competitive.

“We have used this opportunity to listen to you and articulate what can be done by the government so that we can continue to make you competitive. We should be able to compete with farmers in different parts of the world by way of adopting the best technologies and innovations to increase your harvest and income,” Dar said.

The farmer leaders consulted with the DA regarding the major concerns faced by the local onion industry such as the declining price of local onions and competition with imported onions.

They also cited problems such as identifying markets where they can immediately sell their harvest, and finding storage warehouses for their surplus.

On the issue of importation, Dar said additional guidelines on the importation of fresh onions have been issued, setting additional requirements on the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPSIC) for imported onions in a bid to manage onion importation while ensuring its availability for the local market.

“The circular states that the issuance of SPSICs for fresh onion will be based on the importation period specified in the certificate of necessity to import (CNI), which shall include the volume to be imported and the specific period for import arrival,” the DA said.

In terms of marketing the farmers’ produce, the DA-Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) committed to continue their market matching activities to find buyers and coordinate with the Food Terminal Inc. to serve as temporary product drop-off while waiting for the identified buyers.

“We have to be very clear with our farmers that we are sincere in helping them. We will continue to look at opportunities to reduce the cost of agricultural inputs in many ways. Let’s see to it that they deserve continuous good income so that they can sustain this onion industry,” Dar said.