Onion production was low this year because of the little funding that the onion producers from Nata received and because of weather conditions. This low production, the producers from Nata said, has also affected consumers as they now have to pay more than a dollar per pound of onions.
Despite price controls, onion prices in Cocle have also increased, which worries the sellers at the market of Penonome that have to go out of their way not to increase prices for consumers. A pound of onions costs between one dollar and one dollar fifty, as there are no onions in Cocle and they must buy it from Chiriqui.
Market vendors said a quintal of onions from Chiriqui, which used to cost 60 dollars or less, now costs them about one hundred dollars, which is why they had to increase prices, even though they could be sanctioned by Acodeco.
Onion sellers from Nata are also concerned about the increase in the cost of a quintal of onion, as it was being sold for $40 dollars a few months ago and currently costs a hundred dollars.
Mauricio Gonzalez, who sells onions and other agricultural products on the market of Penonome, said that the onions from Chiriqui, which didn't have the best quality, were very expensive this year but that they were buying onions from them because consumers demanded it, and because they would be unable to sell other products without onions.
"Price control hasn't worked for us. On the contrary, it affects us because Acodeco now fines us or tells us not to sell the onions because they are too expensive and we have to comply with the price controls. But we have to sell onions to our customers and many don't complain about the prices because they know the situation are facing," he said.
He also stated that they were going through a rough patch because everything was becoming more expensive so they had to increase prices in order to make a profit, as in the case of onions where a quintal of onions cost them a hundred dollars.
Dominga Alabarch, another seller of onions at the Penonome market, said that even though the onions from Chiriqui weren't very good, as some of the production arrived wet, she still purchased it because customers demanded onions. She also stated that she told her customers that prices had increased.
"Things don't look good because President Varela's price control is not helping us. It is strangling us. However, we hope things will improve because food is a basic need, consumers must buy, and prices should be the better. We try to achieve this, but we are being sold onions at an expensive price," he said.
The situation is very difficult for the onion producers from Nata because they no longer have a production this year, as they received very little funding.
Jose Arrocha, an onion producer from Nata, said that they could only sow once in Nata because of weather conditions but that this year's production had been low because they did not get the support they needed to produce more. As a result, he said, many producers had not planted anything, which led to a shortage of onions in Cocle .
"This year was difficult because the cooperative that has more than 100 producers wasn't given funding and the BDA did not support us so we planted very little. In other years we contribute more than 40 million quintals, but this year we contributed very little. Additionally, Chiriqui's onion production had some problems this year because of climate change," he said.
He said Chiriqui and Azuero had had some setbacks due to the weather so they had been unable to offer onions at their usual prices. He also stated that onion producers in Nata were currently preparing the ground to start the seedbeds in late October so as to have onion next year in March, April, and May.
He noted that this year had been difficult as the seeds they had used were not the best and they had produced 40% less than what they usually offer this year. He also said there were one hundred producers who are members of the cooperative and that there were also more than 100 independent producers who had one hectare or less in production.
Onion producers said that, after many years, they had made a profit this year because even though their production had been low they had been able to sell it at $20 dollars a bag and $40 dollars a quintal. However, Arrocha said, those numbers are ridiculous compared to the current price of $100 dollars per quintal. I don't understand why it's so expensive, he added.
Arnulfo Simiti, another onion producer from Nata, said they needed support to continue sowing, as many had been unable to sow because of a lack of funding, which logically led to a decrease in production levels.
Despite Acodeco's pressure to control prices in Cocle, sellers take their chances and sell a pound of onions for a dollar. They say that if there are no onions they won't be able to sell their other products.
This media tried to talk with the BDA to confirm that they had not funded the cooperative of onion producers, as producers had stated. However, the public relations department of the BDA has not scheduled appointment with the media to discuss the issue yet.
Source: diaadia.com.pa