DA orders FTI to buy onions to prevent price collapse

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) to start buying onions from local producers this week in a bid to prevent farm gate price collapse as harvest season goes toward its peak.

In a statement on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said a team from FTI has already been dispatched to Nueva Ecija —the country’s onion capital— to secure cold storage capacity. 

“They’ve secured space for 50,000 28-kilo bags, and we can expand that if needed,” said Tiu Laurel.

The Agriculture chief added that it is also looking at other onion-producing provinces such as Occidental Mindoro, Pangasinan, and Cagayan Valley “to support farm gate prices and keep traders honest.”

The DA is likewise building cold storages to extend the shelf life of vegetables to keep supply and prices stable throughout the year.

Tiu Laurel said that in past cycles, heavy imports colliding with peak local harvests crushed farmgate prices, discouraging growers and triggering production shortfalls months later. 

By absorbing supply and expanding cold storage, the DA chief said FTI is effectively acting as a “buffer buyer, smoothing out gluts and tempering price swings.” —VAL, GMA Integrated News