High demand inspires Ilocos farmers to plant more garlic

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.