THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will wait until the end of the onion harvest season to see if the country needs to import onions, amid a reported infestation of harabas or armyworms in Central Luzon.
“Sa ngayon ay patuloy pa rin iyong harvest – iyong peak ng harvest ng sibuyas ay itong buwan ng Marso hanggang April. So at this time, siguro ay titingnan muna natin iyong kabuuan ng harvest season bago magkaroon ng rekomendasyon ng pag-i-import uli sa ating kalihim,” DA assistant secretary and spokesperson Arnel De Mesa said in a televised briefing on Friday, March 15.
The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) earlier said the country needs to import up to 60,000 metric tons of onions after a drop in onion production due to armyworm infestation.
De Mesa, however, said that based on the monitoring of the DA, only about 18 hectares of the over 10,000 hectares of onion plantations in Central Luzon have been totally damaged by armyworms.
“Iyong total dito lang sa Central Luzon, more than 10,300 hectares iyong nataniman ngayong taon. Tumaas ito ng almost 40 percent – from 7,000 noong nakaraang taon at base doon sa datos na na-submit sa amin, 17.8 hectares iyong totally damaged at about 2,400 iyong partially damaged with still chance of recovery,” De Mesa said.
“So, base sa datos na ito ay hindi pa ganoon kalaki iyong na-damage,” he said.
De Mesa said that as of March 15, the market price of red and white onions is at P80, down by P20 from P100 per kilo last week. (ABS-CBN News)
