Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
LAOAG CITY—Owing to a great
demand for garlic, more farmers here are inspired to cultivate garlic and
regain its tag as the famous Ilocos “white gold”.
Known for its culinary and
medicinal value, garlic (allium sativum)
is a high value commercial crop in the Ilocos region, being the top producer of
garlic in the country.
In previous years, many
farmers in this northern part of Luzon were discouraged to plant garlic because
of the low quality of planting stocks and high costs of planting inputs,
resulting to low return.
From what it used to be as a
major commodity in the province, the garlic industry died down due to stiff
competition from imported garlic. Several farmers also shifted to other high
value commercial crops such as fruits and vegetables that yield higher return.
But as the garlic industry
gets a boost in the market, the Ilocos Norte Garlic Growers and Processors is
now planning to expand their garlic plantations by 3,000 hectares more.
Mergie Selga, president of
the garlic growers and processors in the province believes the high price of
garlic is apparently due to low supply.
“There’s a great demand for
garlic and we only have few supply. So, the price went up,” Ms. Selga said adding
that several members of their association even sold out their remaining
planting stocks after the highest price ever recorded this year went up to P260
per kilogram in the Ilocos region and P300 per kilogram in Metro Manila.
Following a meeting of the
National Garlic Action Team, which she attended recently, she said the NGAT
have to welcome garlic importation by next month to augment low garlic supply
in the market.
This year, Selga said there
was only less than 2,000 hectares planted with garlic in Ilocos Norte and the
demand is very high.
As the Department of
Agriculture in partnership with various research agencies here and the
provincial government step up in revitalizing the industry, many farmers here
expressed interest to plant garlic again.
With the DA’s budget
allocation of P10 million released early this year to assists garlic farmers
particularly in improving their planting stocks and provision of postharvest
facilities among others, Ms. Selga said that in the next planting season, the
association is eyeing an additional 3,000 hectares to be planted with garlic to
sustain the demand in the market.
With the application of
proper technology and assistance from the government, Ms. Selga sees a bright
future of the industry with support from big time players of the industry and the
government.
Aside from the DA giving
quality planting stocks to farmers, the Vegetable Importers, Exporters,
and Vendors Association (VIEVA) of the Philippines also assists farmers by
giving them planting stocks during the planting season and later on return the
same without interest during the harvest season.
Garlic grows best in Ilocos
Norte mainly because of its suitable soil and climatic conditions. It is among
the basic commodities now experiencing “unusual” price increases. Other
agricultural products being monitored are rice and ginger.
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