The farmers of onions who hail from Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Mindoro have protested in the office of the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City on the morning of yesterday. They complained about the overflow of imported onions that are flooding the market.

They urged the President Marcos who also serves as the Secretary of Agriculture, to order his Bureau of Plant Industry to end the process of issuance of import permits since the cost of local onions stored in cold storage facilities fell to P70 per kilo, down from previously P130 for a Kilo.

Agriculture Secretary Rex Estoperez told the protesting farmers that they will hold off the importation of onions so that local farmers can to let their own stocks go. 78,000 tons of local red onions stored in cold storage facilities are expected to be stored for three months, up to November. 827 tons from the 6,000 tons of imported red onions which have arrived already within the country are kept for four months.

[ P10 = EUR0.16 ]

Source: philstar.com