09/12/2022
DA-RFO2 TURNS OVER ONION COLD STORAGE FACILITY TO ARITAO FARMERS’ ORGANIZATION
By Reynaldo E. Andres
The Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 2 (DA-RFO2) has turned over on December 9 an onion cold storage facility to the members of the Federation of Aritao Farmers Onion, Garlic and Ginger Growers Association (FAFOGGGA) in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya that will help address the post-harvest problems on their product.
FAFOGGGA is an association of 1,487 farmers from Brgys. Calitlitan, Banganan, Bone North, Bone South, Nagcuartelan, Cutar, Poblacion, Comon, and Darapidap. The facility, which is worth P20 million, is located in Brgy. Nagcuartelan.
Its establishment of the facility was contained in DA’s Philippine Onion Industry Roadmap from 2021-2025, which showed that the country needs to increase onion production from 229,539 metric tons to 279,270 metric tons in five years. This is attained by increasing the production areas and productivity for onion throughout the country to achieve self-sufficiency. It was funded by the DA High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP).
The cold storage facility has three functions: dry the freshly-harvested produce, cure them for longer shelf life, and store them in a safe environment so they will not deteriorate. To fulfill these functions, the facility must ventilate the produce in a suitable way, and maintain a suitable temperature and adequate humidity, aside from maintaining the carbon dioxide at an acceptable level.
DA-RFO2 officials who led the turnover ceremony are Roberto C. Busania, OIC-RTD for Operations and Extension; Arsenio M. Apostol Jr., Manager of DA Nueva Vizcaya Experiment Station (NVES); Engr. Monico R. Castro Jr., Chief, Field Operations Division; Enrique Dela Cruz, National HVCDP Focal Person for Region 2; and Carol P. Albay, HVCDP and NUPAP Focal Person.
Aritao Mayor Remelina M. Peros-Galam expressed gratitude to DA-RFO2 for the cold storage facility saying this is a great help to onion farmers so that they can store their produce while the price of onion is still low, and sell them when the price ceiling is high.
“This facility is also complementary to the agricultural trading post in Aritao that started to rise in March this year, and to our local markets in Nueva Vizcaya, which buy and sell our products,” she said.
Onion farmers complained that due to the lack of storage facilities, they are forced to market their produce at a lower price. But with the cold storage facility, they can store their produce longer, reduce post-harvest losses, and eventually obtain a good price. The cold storage facility is expected to prolong the shelf life of onions up to seven months and will prevent the harvest from rotting early and restrain insects from infesting the products.
During the turnover ceremony, Dir. Busania emphasized that this project is in line with the DA’s goals to attain food security and a resilient Philippines with empowered and prosperous onion farmers.
“Next year, we hope to build another P20 million worth of cold storage facility so that we can cater to an additional 40 hectares of onion farms,” he said, noting that the DA is now stronger in its commitment to onion farmers so they can increase their production throughout the country.
“President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who is also the DA Secretary, is now pushing for the attainment of sustainable food security. That is why he has increased the budget of DA next year to attain that goal,” Dir. Busania said.
Dir. Busania lamented that while we are efficient producers of agricultural products, our food security level is still low compared with Singapore and some neighboring countries.
“Since this facility can prolong the shelf life of onion, I also encourage you to learn how to process part of your harvest into some value-added products like what they are doing in Singapore,” Busania said, adding that through this, “you may compete with your counterpart farmers in the other ASEAN region.
With the establishment of the new facility, DA-RFO2 officials hope the best for the farmers in achieving “masaganang ani at mataas na kita” (abundant harvest and high income) in succeeding cropping seasons.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dela Cruz encouraged the farmers to take good care of this facility because it is different from those previously built by DA in some parts of the country.
“You see, some storage facilities that I’ve seen were left idle after their inauguration. But here, it is working properly the day it is turned over to you,” Dela Cruz said, emphasizing that “this is a major agricultural development project here in Aritao.”
“Thank you for your vision and plan to have this kind of facility. You have a concrete direction and goals and you have achieved them. And because of these, everything became possible,” he stressed.
The DA official is proud that the agricultural development hub in Aritao is now in full swing and this achievement is considered a milestone in Region 2, which can serve as model that can be duplicated by the private sector.
As a challenge to the farmers, Ms. Albay asked them three things: commitment which serves as anchor in times of problems, teamwork which spells unity in pursuit of their goals, and love and respect to one another for the good of the association.
In Retrospect
Last October 12, more than P7.9 million worth of assistance in the form of seeds were given to the members of FAFOGGGA in order to push for the stabilization of the local production of onion in the province next year.
A total of 1,306 kilos of seeds of the Red Dragon, Red Pinoy, and Shallot Maserati F1 varieties were distributed to each of the 1,500 farmers who received his/her share of 1.2 kilos of the three varieties during a distribution program held at Brgy. Nagcuartelan. The distributed 1,306 kilos of onion seeds have covered 326.5 hectares. The assistance package also included new onion interventions to improve productivity and ensure that the farmers’ products will have ready markets.
Related Development
Onion farmers in Nueva Vizcaya are urging the authorities to conduct inspections in various warehouses amid reports of red onion hoarding this Christmas season.
Local producers are baffled that the retail price of red onions is increasing despite an abundant harvest. They accused traders of controlling the release of red onions because of the anticipated high demand during Christmas and New Year seasons.
Based on the daily monitoring activity of DA-RFO2, the retail price of red onions in Nueva Vizcaya ranges from P280 to P300 per kilo. Some consumers suspect that the traders have waited for the retail price to further go up before they released the commodity in the market. # #
