Onion industry in distress; farmers cry for assistance

BONGABON, Nueva Ecija -- A dying industry.

This is the collective cry of farmers on the fate of the ill-fated onion industry in Nueva Ecija where income from harvests has gone to rock-bottom low.

Agriculture officials reported that at least P500 million worth of onions have been destroyed in the province since last month due to incessant rains, onion importation and the low price abetted by unscrupulous traders.

The onion limbo prompted an official from the House committee on agriculture to call for the declaration of Nueva Ecija into an "onion calamity area" to channel much-needed calamity funds to resuscitate the onion industry.

Rep. Pacifico Fajardo (Lakas, Nueva Ecija), committee vice chairman, said President Estrada should intervene and release calamity funds "in order to save the entire onion industry from extinction."

"What we really need now is for the President to act and act fast because the fate of the entire onion industry is at stake," he said. He issued the call amid the widespread destruction of onions in the province, which supplies around 98 percent of the entire produce in the country.

At least P500 million worth of onions were believed destroyed in the province because of the lean harvest, the rains and the low price offered by buyers which farmers blame on importation.

Mayor Luisito Ronquillo of the onion-producing town of Bongabon told The STAR that onion farmers in the locality are thinking of quitting planting onions because of the losses they suffered. And to think, he said, that the country used to export yellow-granex onions to other countries.

He said that at least 1,000 hectares of farmlands planted to onions were destroyed by continuous rains over the last few days, affecting 2,000 families in Bongabon alone.