According to producers from Rocafuerte, smuggled Peruvian onions are being sold for 2 dollars a sack; a price with which they can't compete (as a sack of onions produced in the country costs 12 dollars). The authorities had stopped performing border control measures after an earthquake in the region.
Luber Valencia, the president of the Association of Onion Producers of Manabi, said sales had not rebounded as expected, which proved that the illegal entry of Peruvian onions harmed the crop. "We sell our product to wholesalers for 4 to 5 dollars, but our production costs are between 10 and 12 dollars per sack," he said ruefully.
As a result, he said, the product is rotting. He should have sold his crop a month ago, but there's no one to sell it to, that's why producers are offering to sell it as retail (roadside sales), he said.
Last year, Luber said, there were controls that reduced the illegal entry of onions. "After the earthquake, the smugglers found new ways of bringing the onions in the country."
10 kilometers away from his farm, in the sector of Las Maravillas, which is also in Rocafuerte, producers Luis Macias, Antonio Acosta, and Belisario Cadena discussed sales. According to them, they are broke because of the alleged smuggling of onions through the southern border.
"Before the smuggling started, many traders and trucks used to come here and bought all our product. Now there is no one to sell it to and our onions are rotting. Traders prefer to go to the border and pay 2 dollars per quintal," Luber said.
He also stated that, in addition to complaining, a group of producers had traveled to Zapotillo and Huaquillas to monitor the situation. Valencia said that, unlike Peru, "Ecuador produces clean onions because of a government campaign to get rid of toxic products."
He said that last year the government, through the Minister of Interior, Jose Serrano, and the Secretary of Risk Management, Susana Dueñas, had helped to control the traffic of products at the border and that the situation had improved. They expect the government will continue applying the same strategy. "Then perhaps he will plant the same amount of hectares next year. However, if we don't receive help, I think we won't be able to continue our production next year."
The controls were implemented effectively up until April, i.e. before the earthquake.
Sources: En Telegrafo and MAGAP