Eye-watering: A customer buying onions at a market in Manila recently. — AFP
EATING onions and eggs is now beyond the reach of some people in the Philippines.
“It’s now a luxury to eat onions and eggs here because they are so expensive now,” tweeted design consultant JC Aguinaldo, 35.
Farmers and experts attribute the surging prices to several factors, including the government’s flawed importation policies, cartels manipulating prices, the perennial neglect of farmers, extreme weather events and a bird flu outbreak.
Onion prices have more than quadrupled since late 2022, and the vegetable is now more expensive than meat. In December, onion prices rose as high as 700 pesos (RM55) per kg, double the cost of beef and pork at wet markets. The prices came down slightly to 450 pesos (RM35) or less in January as the harvest season kicked off.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) estimated that farmers would produce about 19,000 tonnes of onions in January, short of the projected demand of 22,000 tonnes.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is also chief of the DA, approved the emergency importation of up to 21,060 tonnes of onions until Jan 27 in a bid to lower prices.
But based on the number of sanitary clearances applied by importers, only about 5,000 tonnes of onions would be coming in, which will not be enough to help bring down prices.
Meanwhile, eggs – a cheap source of protein for Filipinos – now cost eight to nine pesos (60 to 70 sen) each, more than the six pesos (47 sen) during the same period in 2022.Jayson Cainglet, executive director of farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, said it had urged the DA to import onions as early as October 2022, predicting that local production would not be enough to meet demand.
He said that when white onions started running out as the year-end holidays approached, consumers bought more red onions instead. Supplies have since dwindled for both, jacking up prices.
Farmers were angered by the government’s importation plan, as they would be forced to sell their produce cheaper. But with only a fourth of the target imports expected by the end of January, the impact on farmers may be lessened.
“We think this is not only a miscalculation of the DA, but it seems they’re deliberately doing this,” said Cainglet. “Just don’t do it when the harvest is here. They’re short-changing farmers.”
Two typhoons and a tropical storm also hit the Philippines in the last quarter of 2022, flattening some onion farmlands.
Lawmakers have started investigating the onion crisis. Senator Imee Marcos, the President’s sister, criticised the DA for its “abject lack of planning”. — The Straits Times/ANN
