On Sunday 20 Nov., governor of Nueva Ecija, Czarina Cherry Umali, called on the national government to ensure that onion farmers are protected and not be left to the mercy of traders or the erratic movement of supply and demand in the market. Umali was reacting to reports that a shortage of onions has been observed, leading to an influx of imported onions in the market.
Nueva Ecija is the top onion-producing province in the Philippines. A total of 19 municipalities and cities plant onion year round on about 1,577 hectares of land. “The interest of farmers should always come first. They must be protected. Their crops should be protected. Their produce must get a fair share of the market. Politicians with bad intent should stop manipulating the farmers and propping up superfluous issues to confuse the public. That is not good politics,” Umali told The Manila Times. She said that even Serafin Santos, the chief of the Office of Provincial Agriculture, reported that there was no crisis in the supply of onions but some unscrupulous traders are hoarding their stocks to earn more.
Santos said as early as September 2016, farmers received advice from the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture to conduct an inventory of current onion stocks over a lingering fear that supply may fall short because of the damage done by army worms during the last cropping.
Source: www.manilatimes.net
