Onion farmers in Nueva Ecija are enjoying a high price for their early harvests. Reynaldo “Amang” Ramos (left), for instance, sold at P120 per kilo the newly harvested Super Pinoy variety last February 5.

 MANILA, Philippines – The onion growers in Nueva Ecija are upbeat these days, thanks to the high price that traders are offering for their early harvests.

One fellow who is very ecstatic is Reynaldo “Amang” Ramos who first harvested 6 tons last January 20 and another 6 tons last February 5 from an 8,000-square meter farm that he rented for P5,000 in Brgy. Antipolo, Bongabon, Nueva Ecija.

He planted this particular area to the Super Pinoy variety on October 8 last year. He was so happy when he sold his first harvest of six tons at P95 per kilo because it brought him P570,000. Then when he harvested the second 6 tons last February 5, he was able to sell the same at P120 per kilo, meaning a gross of P720,000. Three days later, he informed us that the traders were buying at P140 per kilo.

Amang said that this was the first time in his whole life as an onion grower that he received P120 per kilo (he has been planting onion on his own since 1995, but had been helping his father grow the crop since he was a small boy).

There are two main reasons why the price of onion has skyrocketed. One is that the entry of cheap onion from China, whether legally imported or smuggled, has been restricted. The Bureau of Plant Industry has stopped issuing import permits for sometime now.

Another reason is that local harvest is still in short supply. While there are many farmers who had planted onion at the same time that Amang planted his Super Pinoy, most of the other varieties that the other farmers planted were ruined by the rains in October and November.

Amang said that Super Pinoy, a newly released hybrid by East-West Company, is more resistant to not-so-ideal weather conditions. Tomas Brillo, head of the onion business section of East-West, said that Super Pinoy is an improved version of Red Pinoy that has been the standard variety grown by farmers in the past many years. Its bulbs weigh 50 to 70 grams each compared to the 40 to 50 grams for the Red Pinoy. Thus, Super Pinoy has a much higher potential yield of 30 tons per hectare.

Another important trait is that the Super Pinoy has a much longer shelf life than other varieties in the market. According to Brillo, Super Pinoy bulbs will stay in cold storage without spoiling in 7 to 9 months. He said that most other varieties will usually last only for 3 to 4 months in cold storage.

Amang, 43, started planting onion on his own 15 years ago. He started planting onion on 7,000 square meters of land that his father allotted to him plus 5,000 square meters that he rented from another townmate. From these two initial plantings, he grossed P160,000 while his expenses amounted to P50,000. He said that his harvest then sold for P23 per kilo. That was already a profitable price. In many of the past years, however, there were times when the buying price by traders was less than P10 per kilo. The profit margin at that price was thin or it was a losing proposition

Amang expects to harvest 15 tons of Super Pinoy later this February, fervently hoping that the high price would stay. He has other two hectares that are scheduled for harvest in March or April.

He has also planted 12 hectares of rented land to flint corn and another two hectares to high-value vegetables.

Onion, however, is his favorite and hopes that President Aquino will continue to restrict importation of cheap onions from abroad.