23/01/2023
FTI is key!
COMPLETE VALUE CHAIN
TO END P700/Kg. ONIONS
The pestering Onion supply and pricing problem which hurts both farmers and consumers is actually an indication of a flawed food commodities marketing system in the country which is controlled and manipulated by unscrupulous traders called the Cartel.
The solution is to establish a Complete Value Chain for the industry where Filipino Onion farmers are supported from planting to storing and marketing.
While the solution may look very simple, there is no such Complete Value Chain today and this is where government failed to come in with interventions.
The reality on the ground is that the farmers in the major production areas like Central Luzon, Mindoro and Iloilo plant Onion at the same time.
They also harvest at the same time and since the market could not absorb the massive production, they all fall prey to the traders who either own or operate Cold Storage facilities needed to lengthen the shelf life of Onion.
Actually, many of these Cold Storage facilities were built by the Department of Agriculture for Onion Farmers Associations but since the farmers did not have the finances to pay for their members' produce to store these for up to six months, almost all of these Storage Facilities were leased to the traders and the Cartel.
This problem will keep on recurring unless the Food Terminal Inc., a government food trading corporation, is reactivated and tasked with buying, storing and marketing of Onion and other basic food commodities needed by the Filipino families.
The FTI could set a guaranteed buying price for Onion of say P50 per kilo and ensure farmers of a ready market.
With Cold Storage facilities which could be easily established given the availability of buying stations of the National Food Authority (NFA), which is the mother agency of FTI, Onion could be stored and released to the market during the off-season to stabilize the prices.
This would end the manipulation by the Cartel of the pricing of Onion in the market and finally stop the embarrassing saga of a government seemingly helpless in protecting the consumers.
More than that, with a guaranteed market and prices, Onion farmers will be inspired and motivated to produce more.
With an annual Onion consumption of 300,000 metric tons, Filipino Onion farmers could very well produce that by simply planting an area of about 20,000 hectares all over the country.
Then, we do not have to import anymore.
!
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(Captured image downloaded from Facebook.)
