Imee urges gov’t to hold white onion inventory amid shortage

Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday called on the government to conduct a comprehensive inventory of local white onions to determine the extent of its shortage and if they are being hoarded.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed that there was a lack of white onions in the market.

“Trace the traders who bought white onions from local farmers and find out if they are hoarding the crop in cold storage,” she said in a statement.

“Without a comprehensive inventory, we cannot arrive at a well-calibrated importation policy that answers consumer demand but also relieves our local growers from low farmgate prices,” she added.

DA Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista earlier said that they looked at their inventory and even in wet and "bagsakan" markets - white onions were hard to come by.

She also said that the DA was considering importing white onion to meet the demand.

Due to this, Sen. Marcos said the DA should also list names of traders gathered from farmers in the Visayas and Mindanao, on top of major onion-growing provinces like Nueva Ecija and Mindoro, to get a better grasp of the situation.

Pending the results of the inventory, Marcos urged the government to link more local farmers with the restaurant industry ahead of the next major harvest in April.

She also raised concerns that smaller harvests of white onions in November may not meet the higher demand during Christmas.

She said that smugglers of imported white onions are also allegedly taking advantage of the situation by selling them to restaurants at 10 times the usual price.

“We can shut out smugglers from the supply chain through contract-growing, wherein industrial buyers assure local growers of income from their upcoming harvests and, in turn, are assured supply of a staple ingredient in their food products,” Marcos said.

“Next year’s national budget should provide more cold storage facilities for our local farmers. For now, an inventory and contract-growing must be done as soon as possible,” she added.

Marcos earlier alleged that the DA’s statement on the limited supply of white onions was a “modus operandi” and the “same old story,” according to a report on GMA News’ State of the Nation. — DVM, GMA News