When rice, pork, beef and sugar were in short supply, the default solution of the Department of Agriculture is importation.
Earlier the problem was about short supply of white onions. And then as the Christmas season approached, even the red onions (used by ordinary consumers) started disappearing and prices going up uncontrollably to high heavens.
Now that onion prices have skyrocketed to P720 or more during the Christmas holidays, DA is now importing onions—the production of which it had miscalculated and at one point blamed on farmers for being ignorant in forecasting the market’s needs.
President Marcos, who also heads the DA—which would be better attached to the Department of Trade and Industry as it had less to do with food production than importation—has authorized the importation of 22,000 metric tons of onions (both red and white) as if to show government’s hopelessness in controlling cartelized operations of traders of hoarding the stocks to force prices to high heavens.
And the usual victim is us, consumers who have to pay premium for this bulb which we used to produce abundantly but during peak harvest is being buried by farmers to the soil because their produce could not be brought to the markets as they are being forced by traders to sell rock-bottom or at giveaway prices, thereby depriving them of their hard-earned income.
This has been the practice of traders since time immemorial—the greed and lust to squeeze the last centavo from farmers had never been corrected by government, who though aware of the trade malpractice would not lift a finger because many of them are involved in such manipulative schemes. Unless we outlaw hoarding and such malpractices—by imposing death penalty—these greedy traders won’t stop bleeding the farmers dry.
Through the Kadiwa stores of DA—only a few of them going around NCR and crucial cities of the country-majority would still be deprived of this vital culinary ingredient to liven up Pinoy meals.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), through its president Rosendo So, blamed the DA’s inutility (rightly so) for the price spike.
So told the Manila Times: "In the first place, it was the DA which miscalculated the stocks of onions. When we recommended the importation in November and December, the DA should have allowed it. At that time, farmers didn't have the stocks. The stocks were in the hands of the traders," So said.
He was reacting to the announcement of Agriculture deputy spokesman Rex Estoperez last Friday that the DA agreed during an executive meeting to ship in 22,000 MT of onions.
As if to justify the need to import, Estoperez said he does not expect onion farmgate prices to go down because traders are buying onions from farmers at a low price and hoarding them to jack up prices. (Note the clear admission of helplessness by DA).
So said Sinag had
"warned that the retail prices of onions could reach P500 [per kilo] as the stock was only at 2 percent. If the importation is done now, farmers will suffer as the peak harvest will start in the second week of January."
Only traders will benefit from the importation, he said. "What they will do is to hoard their stocks in cold storage facilities. If the purpose of the DA is to bring down the farm gate prices, the losers here are the farmers."
So said Sinag and other farmers' groups will voice out their opposition to the onion importation during their meeting with the DA on Tuesday.
He backed the proposal of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to order the National Bureau of Investigation to go after hoarders and manipulators. (The DA has a list of these hoarders and manipulators, but would it share the list with NBI. This has been the practice ever since, so why only now. Too late the hero).
So said farmgate prices of onions in Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan now range between P200 and P250 a kilo.
"The farm gate prices have already gone down. It is not the fault of farmers why the retail prices remain high. It should be the DA who should make sure that the SRP (suggested retail price) was followed," he added.
The P250 a kilo SRP for onions was implemented from December 28 to January 7.
So said the retail price of onions is expected to go down in the third week of the month.
Based on monitoring of local markets by The Manila Times, onions still retail at between P540 and P600 per kilo.
Estoperez has said half of the 22,000 MT of onions that will be imported will be allocated for the Visayas and Mindanao, and the other half for Luzon.
Ten percent of the allocation for Luzon, or 1,100 MT, will be made up of white onions.
Smuggled onions
In a related development, the DA on Monday reported that P78.9 million worth of smuggled onions and other agricultural products were seized at the Manila International Container Port from December 27 to January 5.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary James Layug said a team from the DA, the Philippines Coast Guard and the Bureau of Customs confiscated P25.3 million worth of smuggled white and red onions in three shipping containers on December 27.
Layug said the shipments' consignee was listed as Taculog J International Consumer Goods Trading.
On January 3, at least P27.8 million worth of red and white onions, frozen pork stomach pouch cuts, and frozen boneless beef shanks in five containers was seized.
Layug said the shipment was also consigned to Taculog J International Consumer Goods Trading and Hutchison Jardine Trading Corp.
Another P23.58 million worth of imported red onions were discovered in three containers on January 4. The shipment was consigned to Asterzenmed Inc.
At least P2.2 million worth of smuggled carrots were seized on January 5. The consignee was also Asterzenmed.
It must be recalled that in previous months, the BoC and DA had confiscations of smuggled red onions but the DA warned consumers not to buy them (even from online) because of issues with safety (sanitary and phytosanitary impurities that might cause disease outbreaks).
So where is the DA sourcing its onions that it is selling at Kadiwa stores?
Tags: #DA, #hoardersandmanipulators, #onions, #importationasdefaultsolution