MIAG-AO, Iloilo -- Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol declared Iloilo as the new onion production area of the Philippines on Friday.
He encouraged that the production area in Iloilo be expanded to 2,000 hectares from the current 205 hectares.
Bulk of the production area is in the municipality of Miagao with around 155 hectares and the rest are from the town of Oton, both in the southern part of Iloilo. Based on tests, the two towns are ideal for garlic and onion production.
Piñol was the guest of honor in the Bulb Onion Field Day and Harvest Festival held at Barangay Durog in Miag-ao on Friday.
“As Secretary of agriculture I will commit sufficient financial support, technical support and even loan support,” he said.
He estimated that if farmers produce at least 10 metric tons per hectare, then they could already produce around 20,000 metric tons.
The secretary believes that the production of these target areas together with Mindoro can help meet the requirement of the country.
At present, the Philippines imports 51 percent of its garlic and onion requirement and 49 percent are supplied by local producers.
“I’m looking at Iloilo alongside Mindoro as the new areas for concentration. We will target sufficiency in onion in the next three years,” he said in a follow up interview.
In Miagao, 384 farmers have availed of the fund support extended by the DA through the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program.
The number has more than doubled due to the available financing facility.
Regino Nicolasura from Barangay Guibongan earned some PHP196,785.00 from out of his 4,373 net yield planted in only 3,000 square meters.
Dexter Miague has been into onion production for 15 years. He availed of PHP45,000 under the PLEA program and produced 5.4 metric tons.
Both expressed their gratitude to the loan program, which they claimed boosted their production.
DA through its Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) has downloaded around PHP20 million to the Rural Bank of Miagao for the loan program.
However, around PHP14 million was utilized to date.
Meanwhile, DA Regional Executive Director for Western Visayas Remelyn Recoter believed that the target areas for expansion are doable because the PLEA “is an opportunity for them to expand”.
Each farmer can avail of loan up to PHP150,000 per hectare but this year, some farmers even limited themselves to one-fourth of one-third of a hectare for a start.
Onion and garlic are planted once a year after the corn or rice cropping, because it is also dependent on water.
Piñol directed RED Recoter to install one of the nine allocated solar-powered irrigation systems in Western Visayas
in Barangay Durog to address their irrigation needs.
The Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) was also ordered to fast track the proposed cold storage facility for garlic and onion in Miag-ao.
With the facility, farmers can keep their produce and place it in the market when the price is high. (PNA)
