DA, onion stakeholders join hand to sustain onion industry

The country’s onion industry is on the path towards recovery and self-sufficiency, as farmers, traders and government recently join hands to form a coordinating body to chart a roadmap and sustain its current bright prospects.

This was the favorable scenario during an onion industry stakeholders’ forum and workshop attended by about 100 farmers, traders and input suppliers, February 22, 2011, at the Department of Agriculture cman office in Quezon City.

Initiated by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, the one-day meeting was convened mainly to gather first-hand information on the current situation of the onion industry, identify needed interventions and strategies to improve and year-round production, and thus stabilize prices, and more importantly ensure farmers reasonable profit.

The meeting was presided on behalf of Sec. Alcala by DA assistant secretary Romeo Recide and Director Dante Delima, national coordinator of the DA-High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP).

The onion industry coordinating body is composed of about 24 leaders of onion farmers’ associatons in Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Occidental Mindoro, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur, vegetable traders, seeds and farm inputs suppliers, municipal agriculture officers, DA-HVCDP Luzon regional coordinators.

Dir. Delima said the immediate concern of Secretary Alcala is to come up with strategies to produce enough onions during off-season in Central Luzon, particularly in Nueva Ecija. The critical months are the months of November, December and January.

During the meeting, farmers said off-season production could come from Occidental Mindoro, Isabela, and as far as General Santos City in Mindanao.

Delima said in general, the country lacks 70,000 to 80,000 tons of onions ayear. “This is the challenge that we have to surmount,” he noted.

To overcome this projected shortage, farmers in other potential regions should plant 500 to 700 hectares from March to July, which would be harvested during the off-season months of November to January.

Another strategy is encourage farmers to plant onions during the off-season under ‘rain shelters’ and make use of bulblets to shorten the traditonal growing period and thus harvest earlier.

Delima said by May this year, the country would expect a minimum surplus of 40,000 tons, which can be stored to meet the demand for the next two months.

He said the DA has allotted of P25 million to fund programs on spices including onions, of which P18 million has been downloaded to various regions.

Delima said other DA agencies will provide their respective support to revitalize the country’s onion industry. For instance the:

Bureau of Agricultural Research and Bureau of Plant Industry will establish techno demo farms to showcase new technologies to farmers in Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4B (MiMaRoPa);

Agricultural Training Institute will conduct needed training fro farmers and agricultural technicians; and the

Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization will provide needed post harvest  cold storage especially in Occidental Mindoro.

  

Finally, onion farmers clamor that the DA through the Bureau of Plant Industry limits the issuance of permit to import onions.