"Price of onions to drop to P170/kilo 鈥� farmers' group"
By Bella Cariaso聽 January 4, 2023
(UPDATE) THE farmers' group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) president Rosendo So on Tuesday said that he expects the retail prices of onions to normalize at P170 per kilo beginning Jan. 15, 2023 with the start of the peak harvest season.
So also noted that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has failed to enforce the P250 suggested retail price (SRP) as the cost of the bulbs remains high.
In a radio interview, So admitted that the P250 SRP was not achieved. It was announced two days before its implementation on Dec. 30, 2022.
"We expected that [noncompliance] as it was implemented two days before. The retail price started to go down as we already monitored at least P400 per kilo. We expect that within a few days, it will further decrease," he said.
Based on the monitoring of the DA, the retail prices of the bulbs still ranged from P550 to P700 per kilo.
So said retailers have yet to sell all their old stocks before they can comply with the P250 SRP.
"We already received reports that there are now traders who deliver onions to Manila at P250 per kilo. We hope this trend will continue," he added.
So said that the peak harvest season of onions will start on January 15 and will continue until April this year.
"By then, we hope to return to P170 per kilo," he noted.
At the same time, So reiterated that the importation of onions is no longer an option as it will compete with the local production.
"If we import now, it will arrive on January 15 until January 20. It will not help in our stocks as we will have local stocks by then," he added.
So said that onions from Ilocos are cheaper since their farmgate price is only at P100 per kilo. They are sold at retail prices between P150 and P200 per kilo.
"These are the sibuyas (onion) Tagalog that are sourced from the Ilocos. Usually, these types of onions are being shipped to Mindanao as consumers prefer this type. But because of the high retail prices of red onions, Metro Manila consumers can use this as an alternative," he added.
Meanwhile, a farmers' group in Nueva Ecija divulged that the Agriculture department bought the onions at farmgate price of P537 per kilo and sold them at P170 per kilo at the Kadiwa centers. This happened as the cost of the bulbs in the local markets reached as high as P720 per kilo.
This means that the DA subsidized the onions at the Kadiwa center at P367 per kilo to be able to sell them at P170 per kilo.
In a radio interview, Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative Chairman Israel Reguyal added that traders started a bidding process, causing the farmgate prices in December to reach between P550 and P570 per kilo.
"[Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine] Evangelista tried to negotiate with us as she said the onions will be sold at P170 per kilo," Reguyal said.
Evangelista serves as the DA's spokesman and assistant secretary for consumer affairs.
"When the DA talked to us, the farmgate price that time was already P550 to P600. I told the DA, we will just compute the additional expenses for the transport cost going to Manila and the middleman will be eliminated, that's why we came up with the P537 [per kilo]," Reguyal added.
He attended the stakeholders' meeting organized by the department on Dec. 28, 2022 after the retail prices went up to P720 per kilo.
Reguyal said it was the traders who started the high bidding price.
"The bidding happened at the farm. The traders approached the farmers while they were harvesting. For example, a trader will offer P500 [per kilo farmgate price], but after one minute, another buyer will arrive, offering P520 to P530 per kilo. That explains why the onions were expensive," Reguyal added.
He said that Bonena Multipurpose Cooperative has at least 200 farmer members.
However, he failed to disclose the total volume of onions the DA bought from the farmers.
Reguyal admitted that it was the first time in many years where the farmgate prices of onions reached more than P500 per kilo.
"Since birth, it was the first time I experienced this high farmgate price," he said.
Reguyal explained that because it is still off-season, the production of onions is still limited.
"When we say off-season, it is not yet time to plant onions because of the typhoons. If a farmer plants, normally only 20 percent will survive because of the rains. This is also the reason why we have a high cost of production," he said.
He said farmers planted three times after the seedlings were destroyed by the typhoons.
"We started planting in August but because of typhoons like 'Paeng,' we repeated thrice and because of the rains, only 20 percent survived," he said.
Reguyal explained that a farmer usually spends between P350,000 and P400,000 for each hectare.
"So, if you repeated the process three times, you will multiply the P350,000 three times. Per kilo, our break-even is between P80 [and] P100," he said.
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