NEWSFLASH

NUEVA ECIJA ONION FARMERS APPEAL TO ERAP

Munoz, Nueva Ecija, March 17, 2000 The problems besetting the local onion growing industry has reached President Joseph Estrada, who immediately ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to study the possibility of purchasing onions produced by Nueva Ecija farmers.

Estrada issued the order after learning during a dialogue with poor families that local onion farmers could not sell their harvests at a competitive price because of lack of buyers.

“Papupuntahin natin si NFA Administrator Eduardo Nonato Joson II. Pabibilihin natin lahat ng sibuyas diyan (I will send Joson there to take a look. We’ll see if the NFA can buy your onion harvests)," he told farmers.

Mr. Estrada likewise assured other poor families here that his administration continues to look after their needs through the Lingap Para sa Mahihirap anti-poverty program.

“Ako ay nakahandang makinig sa inyong mga hinaing (I am always ready to listen to and act on your problems)," he said, adding that he will return in a year’s time to check on the progress of the projects.

During the dialogue, some farmers lamented that the lack of buyers for their onion harvests has made their life difficult. They also asked for more ERAP sari-sari stores, a request that the President accommodated.

The President also approved requests by other residents for more deep-water wells, after they said that they could not get adequate supply of drinking water.

Locally-grown onions face very stiff competition from imports, particularly those coming in from China and New Zealand, which are flooding the market at prices much lower than the Filipino farmers’ production cost.

Consumers have also expressed preference for the imported onions which, they claim, are not only cheaper but have longer shelf life.

Most of the onions grown in the Philippines are from Nueva Ecija and the Ilocos region.