ILOILO – The harvest of onions in Miag-ao town – the “Onion Capital of the Visayas” – has started.
The average production per hectare is about 10 metric tons (MT), according to the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6.
Miag-ao has the largest onion plantation in the region – 172 hectares. It is managed by 720 farmers, based on the DA-6 report as of January this year.
“Indi ko ma-project kon pila ang ma-ani subong but what is good is naka-harvest na sila. It is already summer, ti, mayo man nga may ara na kita sang sibuyas,” said Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) head Ildefonso Toledo.
The PAO is also checking onion farmers from the towns of Igbaras, Tubungan and Alimodian.
Miag-ao was the top onion-producing town in the province for 2021 with 921.05 MT; followed by Alimodian (nine MT); Oton (6.83 MT); Igbaras (1.79 MT); and Tubungan (0.8 MT).
Toledo said farmers bring their harvested onions to the public market of their respective towns.
The farmgate price of locally produced onions is about P80 per kilo.
However, Toledo explained, if farmers sell their locally-produced onions at this price, they could not make a profit due to costly farm inputs.
Because of this, the Iloilo provincial government is looking for measures to help onion farmers from Miag-ao sell their produce at a higher price.
“May feedback ako nga may problema sila kon diin nila ibaligya. So isa pa na sa ginatana-w kon paano mabuligan ang aton onion farmers,” said Toledo.
Farmers have the option not to sell their harvested onions while the market prices are still low and instead put them in cold storage provided by the DA, the PAO chief added.
Sufficient onion supply
Toledo said with the onion harvest in Miag-ao, an increase in supply should be seen in public markets in the province.
However, he clarified that there has been no problem with the supply of onions since the province imports them from Mindoro and Pangasinan.
Iloilo has long been dependent on other provinces to meet its annual requirement of over 5,000 MT of onions.
The PAO chief also encouraged farmers in the 1st District to venture into high-value crops such as red onions and garlic production.
Toledo explained if farmers in Miag-ao can cultivate such crops, other towns in the 1st District like Igbaras, Tubungan, Oton, Tigbauan, San Joaquin, and Guimbal may also do so.
“Ang tanan siguro naton nga area nga suitable for bulb onions, if they could divert to other high-value crops, nga amo ‘ni ang sibuyas kag bombay,” he said.
The provincial government, he added, is willing to provide technical assistance to interested farmers who want to learn how to grow high-value crops./PN
