FTI buying onions to stabilize farmgate prices

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said state-run Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) will begin buying onions this week to help arrest falling farmgate prices as the harvest starts to peak.

In a statement on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said an FTI team has been dispatched to Nueva Ecija, the leading production area, to obtain cold storage space for onion purchases.

“They’ve secured space for 50,000 28-kilo bags, and we can expand that if needed,” Mr. Laurel was quoted as saying in the statement.

Nueva Ecija produces more than half of the country’s onion output, with Bongabon accounting for roughly 15% of total production, the DA said.

According to the DA, FTI President Joseph Rudolph C. Lo inspected markets in Nueva Ecija and reported farmgate prices rebounding to as high as P45 per kilo.

“Our goal is to buy at prices that are fair to farmers, at levels that are enough to make onion farming profitable and sustain their planting intentions,” Mr. Lo was quoted as saying in the statement.

The DA said FTI is also looking at purchasing onions from other major production areas such as Occidental Mindoro, Pangasinan, and provinces in the Cagayan Valley.

The DA said it is also building cold storage facilities to extend the shelf life of vegetables to keep supply and prices stable throughout the year. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel