Spiked

LONG considered and now almost forgotten as “Ilocos white gold”, the versatile garlic is once again in the news—this time for its skyrocketing prices.

From farm gate prices of P40 per kilogram for local and P17 per kilogram—including taxes—for imported garlic, market price for garlic now hovers from P280 to P350 per kilogram. From whatever angle, traders are making a killing at a rate of a 900% mark up in market prices of garlic.

This however has not redounded to the benefit of Ilocano garlic farmers, who accounts for majority of locally produced garlic in the country. The local garlic supply now accounts for only eight percent of the market with the remaining 92 percent filled in by imported garlic.

Apparently, this mishap occurred in the 1990s when the country joined the World Trade Organization and our garlic farmers lost out to other countries’ garlic farmers simply because they are being subsidized by their respective governments. Our own garlic farmers are pretty much left to their own devices. Soon enough, local garlic production shrank. Erstwhile garlic farmers turned to other commercial crops and the cheaper, imported garlic took over the vacuum.

The drastic price difference of local and imported garlic was further exacerbated by smuggling. An estimated 20 percent of garlic in the market are believed to be smuggled and as such are priced much lower than the local produce and the legally imported garlic.

With these confluence of events and actions, the local garlic industry slowly went into its death throes. Even Ilocanos who got rich before because of garlic have turned to other crops.

Agriculture experts estimate the area cultivated to garlic in the country has shrunk to 2,500 hectares from 7,000 hectares in the 1990s. And from here, the garlic importers and traders—along with the smugglers—have slowly but surely took control of the garlic market in the country.

Everyone believes the garlic price spike is due to manipulation. And the national government should have stepped in earlier to freeze garlic prices before it spun out of control to protect consumers.

However, Malacañang has not even hinted that they are thing about this. Instead, Pres. Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III is thinking of selling confiscated smuggled garlic “to ease pressure on prices.”

And as the President mulls this idea, other vegetable prices in the market are now also inching upward. Rice prices are also beginning to soar.

The President can freeze prices of prime commodities while they sort things out. After they discover who or what is behind the price spike, they should then throw the full might of the government to prosecute whoever is behind this. They could then offer better support services for our farmers so they could produce better crops that we may wean our country from importing all kinds of farm produce in the future.

But as he is keener about letting market forces play out, he may never even attempt to even hint at it. All the economic growth that this administration has achieved would all be for naught if they let prices of prime commodities skyrocket. Should this happen, the least they could worry about is runaway inflation rates.

The most they should be wary of is the thought that they have not been better than the previous administration which they have taken pains to blame for all the woes of this country. And as surveys show, approval ratings for the President and his cohorts are dropping as fast as food prices are rising.

Tuwid na daan? More like huwad na daan.