Bayambang pushes for improved onion industry

By February 9, 2014Business, News

BAYAMBANG–To sustain this town’s billing  as the top producer of onions in Region I and improve farmers’ income, Mayor Ricardo M. Camacho has called for various reforms.

Camacho initialy  urged the national government to place lands being planted under the agrarian reform program to enable farmers to own the  farms they till.

So far, the villages that serve as onion plantations have not been declared as alienable by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The mayor said giving the land to the farmers will allow them to better utilize the area and the local government could also bring in development projects.

The local government, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, is also providing farmers information on modern technology and practices, particularly the use of integrated pest management (IPM).

The mayor said the town plans to put up an onion food processing plant next year and organize the  Onion Festival in Barangay San Gabriel where the main onion farmland is located.

Some 2,000 hectares of the town covering 11 villages around the Mangabul Lake serve as onion farms and Camacho has indicated the town’s intererst in regaining management of Mangabul Lake from DENR.

PRICES

Meanwhile, Municipal Agriculturist Mercedes Peralta said onion farmers are currently struggling because while yields are high, market prices have gone down.

From P68 per kilogram, the market price of red onions is currently at P30-32 while white onions, went down from P45-50 to P11-12 only.

She said the importation of chaper onions greatly affected the prices of locally grown onions.

Input costs in onion production is about P150,000-200,000 per hectare, which can translate to a harvest value of  as much as P500,00-P600,000 if production volume and prices are on average 20-25 tons per hectare at the high range of prices.—with report from Johanne R. Macob

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