AVANT GARDENER
Yvette Tan
“The onion problem is a symptom of a problem,” Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) President Danny Fausto said in the organization’s monthly presscon.
He was addressing the onion shortage issue that has wracked the country, even reaching international news. “ onions are just telling us an example of what happened to the different commodities. It’s the same problem with corn, same problem with rice, same problem with other commodities, livestock and poultry, and onions is just an eye opener that there is really a big big problem, and that is what we see on the problem of anticipation.”
Now that a shipment of imported onions is scheduled to arrive to alleviate the shortage, the worry is that since it will be arriving close to harvest season, it might substantially cut into the profit of local onion farmers.
“Since the order is released, I’d like to reiterate that these arrivals of onions should not exceed the month of January because our people in Nueva Ecija will have a full-blown harvest starting February,” Fausto said. “The proper importation, as what we agreed, some importation on the item that is really needed, but not to exceed what is supposed to be imported.”
Cautiously optimistic
That said, Fausto maintains optimism about the agriculture industry’s outlook this year, that is, as long as proper checks and balances are observed.
The DA’s annual budget has been increased by 39.2 percent to ₱184.1 billion, with ₱29.5 billion specifically set aside for irrigation. “The concern now is the absorptive capacity and downloading of this budget to the proper projects and effective implementation of the project,” he says.
Food and how to get it is on top of everyone’s minds lately, for all the wrong reasons. Onions have become prohibitively expensive in Manila, a situation that has shed light on the country’s precarious food security, opaque food system that encourages exploration and smuggling, and the inequality and oppression farmers face when produce is bought from them for cheap and then sold for more than twice the amount. Now is a good time for government and private industry practitioners to educate the public on how our agriculture system works, and lead them toward demanding changes that will benefit agriculture practitioners, from subsistence farmers upwards, while ensuring Filipinos have access to cheap, nutritious, culturally appropriate food. This includes curbing smuggling, putting up post-harvest facilities, beefing up the coop system to achieve economies of scale, and so on.
Which brings us back to why Fausto believes that onions are a symptom of a bigger problem. “Almost all commodities have the same problem: post-harvest facilities.”
If things go well, the country can expect to reap benefits as early as next year. “I’m optimistic this year but I’m optimistic about 2024,” Fausto says. “We are now at 1.8 percent growth in the third quarter… if we can have about one to two percent growth the GDP contribution of the agriculture sector, will be good enough, but I will say we should pick up about two to three percent for next year as chicken will recover… I would like to emphasize that we should not be reactive, we have to and proactive these agricultural sectors.”
Ask any longtime agriculture industry insider and they will rattle off a list of things that need to be done in order to begin getting the industry back into shape. Unfortunately, they will also tell you that political will, as well as the participation of eager, inspired, and competent people who aren’t driven by greed or ego and truly want the industry to grow is necessary to even begin to make things work. At the moment, there are too many people making money off the current system who want it to stay as is, much to the detriment of the entire country.
But Fausto believes these things can be circumvented. “And I see with the budget that now, attention is being given to the agricultural sector, value chain is now being attended to, so there's reason to be optimistic…. Improvement will come, but the concern of course, …is the organizational infrastructure of the Department of Agriculture will have to be in place,” he said.
“The motivation, inspiration, and the energy of the people in the Agricultural department should be there to see some of our farmers who need help, especially those poor farmers that have meager land that is being cultivated.”