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Friday, March 29, 2024

Govt blacklists 43 garlic importers amid high prices

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Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Wednesday the government will blacklist 43 garlic importers for failing to import the commodity amid high demand that eventually led to excessive prices  in the domestic market.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the prevailing market price of native garlic was P150 to P300 per kilogram while retail prices of imported garlic ranged from P100 to P180 a kilo.

“We will blacklist importers. At the time that we needed to import, they did not import. We will issue the order today [Wednesday] banning them,” Piñol said.

The agriculture chief said the 43 garlic importers were supposed to import 70,100 metric tons this year, but they were able to bring in only 19,000 metric tons.

“The problem is they do not want to import because of the high prices. I will issue an administrative order placing the issuances of [import permits] under the Office of the Secretary,” said Piñol.

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Piñol confirmed the existence of cartels which manipulated the price of garlic in the country.

“There are cartels manipulating the prices of at least four basic commodities whose level of production is not enough to supply the requirements of the country. These four commodities are rice, meat, garlic and onion and milk and dairy products. The most serious problem of supply and price manipulation is in the garlic and onion sectors,” said Piñol.

Piñol said the Philippines was imports about 93 percent of its garlic requirements and about 70 percent of its onion requirements. He said the government was ramping up efforts to improve local garlic production.

He said the government initially linked onion and garlic farmers with direct buyers like SM Supermarket, Robinson’s, Rustan’s, Puregold and other direct users through the Kapatid Go Negosyo program.

Piñol said a lending program was also being prepared for onion and garlic farmers. The program will allow farmers to have a maximum loanable amount of P25,000 per hectare and will be started in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija where workers of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council and information technology experts of the department were accrediting farmers prior to the start of the loaning program.

“In the 2018 proposed budget, a P200 million [instead of P50 million as earlier proposed] has been submitted to jump-start the 5-year road map for garlic and onion development.  This involves the support for traditional production areas of onion and garlic production and the development of new production areas in other parts of the country. This will include the introduction of modern technology in Garlic and Onion farming to allow farmers to plant more than once during the year,” he said.

“All garlic and onion farmers will also be given access to the Production Loan Easy Access Program of ACPC which offers a maximum of P25,000 per farming household without any collateral and a 6-percent interest annually,” said Piñol.

Piñol said additional cold storage facilities would also be established in traditional production areas, including Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Ilocos and Mindoro.

Pilot garlic and onion farms will be established in the Visayas and Mindanao.

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