Onion farmers urged the government to look into the possibility of providing price support to increase the production of onions, according to the latest report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its report titled “Costs and Returns of Onion Production,” the PSA said close to 50 percent of the farmers surveyed cited the need for financial support, while regulation on the price of farm inputs was mentioned by 47.4 percent.
“Some 28.49 percent suggested provision of new/modern farming technologies. About 0.55 percent to 8.49 percent reported addressing environmental concerns, implementing land-reform program, provision of infrastructure facilities, soil-testing analysis and improvement of irrigation services,” the report read.
The PSA said the proportion of onion farmers who sought price support ranged from 78.38 percent in Pangasinan to 95.77 percent in Ilocos Sur.
“Mindoro Occidental accounted for the biggest percentage of onion farmers at 84 percent and 72 percent who recommended regulation of farm inputs and provision of new modern/farming technologies, respectively,” the PSA said.
The agency found that the production of red onion averaged 11,924.23 kilograms per hectare worth P234,843.
“Considering all production costs, farmers netted P103,957 per hectare. A gain of about P0.79 was realized for every peso of investment in red onion production,” the report read.
Across the five provinces covered by the report, the PSA also found that close to 10 percent of onion farmers practiced organic/natural farming using solely organic fertilizers in their farms.
“This practice was more adopted in Nueva Ecija as reported by 33.80 percent of farmers,” the report read.
The PSA’s survey covered the five onion-producing provinces, namely, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Mindoro Occidental.
The survey was conducted in August 2013. The reference period was the last completed harvest within July 2012 to June 2013.
The PSA said onion production in the Philippines posted an average annual growth rate of 4.94 percent over the past 10 years from 2004 to 2013. The country produced 134,161 metric tons of onion in 2013.