After the eruption of Taal Volcano and strong typhoons that hit hard the Philippine agriculture sector last year, the Department of Agriculture is optimistic about agriculture production this 2021.
U-Nichols Manalo, Officer-in-Charge for High Value Crops Program of the Department of Agriculture forecast more than adequate supply of highland vegetables commonly known as “chopsuey veggies” this year.
Manalo projected the annual production of carrots, cabbage, potatoes, wombok and beans can reach as high as 110,198,654 metric tons, which is over the annual consumer demand of 433,060 metric tons.
In spite of this good news, Manalo admitted there is almost a 20% shortfall in the supply of lowland vegetables, popularly known as “pakbet veggies”.
Estimated annual local demand of bittermelon, eggplant, squash, string beans and tomatoes range at 1,586,860 metric tons, which cannot meet the lowland veggies production reckoned at 1,274,792 metric tons.
Manalo said native vegetables like monggo beans, moringga, taro, malabar spinach can intervene “kahit sabihin natin sa datos may kakulangan, lalo na lowland, sa pinakbet, pero sa probinsya po may access (sa ibang produkto) available ‘yan (even if the data show that there is shortage especially in the lowland ‘pinakbet’, there is access from other provinces for alternative available products).”
Onion supply
The harvest season for local onion began last February. About 19,323 metric tons of onions were collected from regions 1,2,3, 4B and 6. Reaping period will last until April.
Manalo projects 124,415 metric tons of onions will be harvested next month, which is 534% over the 21,194 metric tons monthly demand of onion but emphasized, “ang kailangan po talaga dito ngayon, is itong mga harvest ng ating mga kasamahang magsasaka ng sibuyas ay maipasok sa cold storage at sa panahon ng kakulangan ng supply lalo na sa third at fourth quarter mailabas ito para naman hindi tayo magkulang ng supply ng sibuyas sa merkado (what is needed here now is that the harvests of our farmers will be stocked in cold storage to meet the demand especially during lean seasons in the third and fourth quarter so there will be ni shortage of onions in the market.”
As of press time, local onions can be bought at a retail price of ₱80 a kilo, ₱40 lower than ₱120 a kilo in previous months.
Manalo clarified the agency has temporarily stopped issuing import permits for onions but imported onions have been arriving because “yung ibang nabigyan ng permit noong hindi pa isinara is nagdadatingan ngayon (those who were issued permits when this wasn’t stopped yet, have their deliveries coming in now).”
Garlic production remains low
The Philippines can only produce 4% of garlic supply. This comes from Ilocos, Batanes and some parts of Region 2. 96% of garlic supply comes from the international market.
“Ang sinasabi nga ni Secretary William Dar, tulungan ang mga magsasaka sa patuloy na pag-conduct ng research kung paano maa-address. Maliliit kasi ang bawang natin, ang mga native (Sec. William Dar has been saying that farmers should be supported by conducting research to address this. The native garlic is too small),” Manalo explained.
Currently, the agriculture department is in partnership with various universities in conducting research to boost garlic production.
Manalo appealed to consumers to patronize local agri-products, “tangkilikin natin ang produkto natin, ng mga kababayan nating magsasaka (let us patronize our own products, our own farmers).” -Cleizl Pardilla
