By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
It may be unthinkable for a commonly available, locally produced condiment like onion to fetch a sky high price of PhP750.00/kg. But yes, the local price of onion reached exactly that exorbitant level as of Dec 29, 2022. Then the DA went on a blitz of explanation mode in the media in reaction to the untamed pricing of the commodity.
We just got into the first week of Jan., 2023 but onion price is still hovering at the PhP 400-600.00/kg level.
The Department of Agriculture’s nonchalant aside is that the spike in onion’s price is due to supply and demand. Really? I heard a similar comment from a DA official not too long ago about vegetable smuggling, particularly carrot. He said point blank in our conversation that the illegal act is happening because others produced much better quality but much cheaper carrots. He was referring to China as the producer. I was a bit shocked of such an attitude which was, to me, tantamount to an abject surrender on the matter. That smuggling of carrot can not be avoided because of that. Or, he may have just said it to show that they are almost helpless to deal with it since they do not have police powers, nor enough manpower and the additional budget for the performance of extra job not within their mandate.
Last October, the price of onion already rocketed to about PhP300.00 from a previous price of PhP80-120.00 per kilo in some parts of the country like in Cebu. That price conferred to the country the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest price of onion.
That dire warning sign apparently was not taken seriously by the DA. It would have been the right time to consider importation of the commodity since local production was still at least three months away. Or, it would have been the proper time to search for possible hoarders as there was an overproduction of the crop last Mar-April, 2022.
That no relevant action was put into action signifies a real vacuum in leadership at the Department of Agriculture. At present, the order of the day is reaction, not a pro-active action. That would put not only our farmers but also our consumers, to an irritatingly disadvantageous position.
From time to time, problems arose about the supply of onion locally but it seems that it was never considered as a prime commodity, therefore not given enough attention as it deserves. Without being reckoned as a prime commodity like rice, corn, sugar and coconut, onion could never get enough budget for its development.
As an agriculturist myself, it never crossed my mind that onion can command a price presently equivalent to the combined price of a kilo each of pork, chicken, sugar, cooking oil and some vegetables. But foreboding signs were already there for pro-active actions to find solution before things got out of hand. Truth is, there was no real chieftain in the department to wield the baton for others to follow.
Today, one of the solutions put forward to contain the onion puzzle is to sell the smuggled onions. It is a temporary panacea that may be harmful in the long run. For one, some DA officials were all over the broadcast and print media discouraging people to buy the smuggled kind as they may be hazardous to the health. To sell the illegal product will make the officials and the government unreliable in the eyes of the public, and good only for double talks. The distribution of the smuggled crop could be misconstrued as a tacit approval of smuggling itself. And such sale is contrary to the country’s policy of not distributing or selling any illegally acquired merchandise. It’s actually a no win situation for the DA and the country.
It is exasperating to hear the blabbering of DA officials on the onion problem. The real actions could have been put together earlier. They are working on a new suggested retail price which is too late in the day. Then they will go after the retailers who are selling beyond the SRP, being too naïve to think that the retailers will tell them who are the traders selling to them. Squeezing such information from the retailers is next to impossible, and they know that. Pity the officials.
Of course, the president-secretary is saying that importation of onion at the moment, now that local harvesting is starting, is out of the question. They are rolling out Kadiwa-on-wheels to sell at a price of not more than PhP250 per kilo. Still very high but much lower than PhP750.00/kg. While Kadiwa is a welcome development, it could offer only a token solution. It is already good if it can address 1% of the consumers’ needs.
At least the DA officials are now talking about capacitating farmer cooperatives to have a more active role in solving agri-problems. They are talking about granting higher credits to them so they could be better equipped for the battles ahead.
The DA should now intently consider the request of farmers to have more postharvest facilities to store the harvested onions during the peak harvests in February-April. Also close monitoring of production and distribution of the same product should be part and parcel of any onion program that will be put in place .
While the country is importing onions, it is actually exporting the same in various forms; fresh or chilled, preserved, dried (whole cut, sliced, broken), and powder form. Our main markets for these are Singapore, South Korea, U.S., Malaysia and Japan. We are the 14th largest exporter for the commodity. Maybe we can have more in the preserved or dried form for the local market as well, as an insurance of sort.
During my school days in UPLB, we used to frequently visit an excellent facility in Taguig: the Food Terminal Incorporated. It was serving so well to maintain supply of various crop and fishery products preventing spike of prices. It fell into disuse starting 1986, until its demise a few years later. It must be revived, but in a different location already as the original site is already serving other purposes. Similar facility should also be built for the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
The call at the moment is for a real Secretary of Agriculture other than the President of the country, to be designated sooner than immediately.
By the way, our Senate have identified agri-smugglers in the recent past. What have they done with those people in the list, were charges filed against them?
Who is making the killing now in the current onion smuggling and price manipulation? Ask the Senate, they have the answer. Oh yeah, their hands are full. They have a new battering ram – the utterly embarassing condition of our aeronautics signaling system for our airports. It has wrought a big black eye for us resulting to billions of pesos of lost revenues, and a big slap on our balat-sibuyas na mukha.
Wait for the Senators to grandstand and outdo each other. But for what?**
