BONGABON,
Nueva Ecija – Mayor Allan Xystus Gamilla has urged the Department of
Agriculture to call a summit on the forthcoming integration of the
member-economies of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations amid what he termed was the apparent lack of prior
strategic planning of the DA with regards to the integration’s effects on the
competitiveness of the country’s onion farmers, particularly in this town, the
country’s onion capital.
Gamilla said the DA should draw up a
comprehensive road map to make onion farmers competitive amid the expected
entry of imported onions with the economic integration in 2015.
“As of now, the DA has no clear plan
to prepare our onion farmers for the coming integration. That’s why I think we
need to hold a summit and discuss how onion farmers could cope with the coming integration,” he said.
Gamilla said Bongabon remains as the
country’s top producer of onions yet local farmers’ fear being unable to
compete with their counterparts from other member economies. “We might be
placed at a disadvantage unless there are interventions in place. Maybe, the
government should consider subsidizing us,” he said.
He said onion farmers spend P150,000
per hectare as production cost for red creole and P200,000 for yellow granex.
There are an estimated 4,000 to 5,000
onion farmers in this town which produces roughly 60 percent of the country’s
onions. However, farmers suffer from low income due to the entry of imported
onions believed being smuggled into the country.
As stipulated in the ASEAN economic
community blueprint, free trade paves the way for the establishment of a single
market and production base among countries in the region namely Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and
the Philippines.
This means that there will be a free flow of goods,
including rice, onions, services,
investment, capital and skilled labor to these countries. The goal is to create
a highly competitive single market that would boast of an equitable economic
development.
Under the ASEAN free trade regime, imported products
will become cheaper which poses a real challenge to Filipino farmers.
Gamilla said the municipal government has not been
remiss in undertaking steps to help local onion farmers cope with integration.
He said they have been going to the barangays showing to the farmers modules
for ideal planting of alternative products.
He added that the municipal government also provided
P7 million worth of seeds to onion farmers under the grassroots participatory
budgeting process.
Earlier, DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said they have
come up with their own road map to prepare the agribusiness sector for the
Asean Economic Community, adding they plan to invest heavily on farm
mechanization, irrigation and financing to strengthen the farmers’ capacity to
compete in the Asean region.
However, Alcala was viewed to be referring only to rice farmers as there
was no mention of how DA intends to prepare other sectors, such as those
engaged in the onion industry. (Manny Galvez)
