Onion output reflects good harvest; govt may cancel importation

The farm output for red creole and yellow granex onions totaled 108,656 metric tons (MT) as of the first week of April, initial estimates by the Bureau of Plant Industry’s (BPI) Task Force Allium showed. The combined figures reflect 97,899 MT of red creole and 10,757 MT of yellow granex, according to the BPI. "Harvested onion will suffice for the next six months given our consumption of red creole and yellow granex ... [is] at 14,000 MT a month," BPI Director Clarito Baron said in an interview Wednesday. Task Force Allium monitored the farm outputs from Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Occidental Mindoro — the country's major onion-producing provinces, according to the bureau. It said that the onion output reflects a good harvest, and that the Philippines can afford not to import the commodity for the rest of the year. Despite retail prices of onions soaring to P100 per kg., the Department of Agriculture has not issued any import permit during the first three months of the year to protect the farmers. The department usually consults farmers and other stakeholders before importing onion to determine if there is a pressing need to import the commodity. Onion production reached over 150,000 MT last year. — VS, GMA News