ILOILO CITY, Aug. 10 -- Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has urged farmers from Miagao, Igbaras, Tubungan and Tigbauan to embark on onion and garlic plantation backed with necessary support in financing, training and marketing from the Department of Agriculture.
In a dialogue with farmers from the southern part of Iloilo afternoon of Wednesday, the Secretary announced that the department is offering a loan of up to PHP100,000 per hectare at six percent interest per year for those who would like to plant onions and garlic.
"The interest will directly go to your association or cooperative as the lending conduit," explained Piñol.
A PHP100 million credit assistance was also offered to farmers of Miagao for them to expand their production areas up to 1,000 hectares, according to a statement from the DA regional agri-fishery information section (RAFIS).
He added that DA can even provide up to PHP200 million if farmers from this province are interested.
Only six percent of the national requirement of onion and garlic are being produced. With the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) of DA-Agricultural Credit Policy Council, the agency seeks to expand up to 5,000 hectares of onion and garlic areas nationwide.
"Our five year-plan is to produce 50 percent of garlic's national requirement and 80 percent on onion," Piñol said.
To support the drive of improving the production of these high value crops, Piñol instructed DA-6 regional executive director Remelyn Recoter and Agricultural Training Institute Center Director Eden DLR Bautista, mayors of target municipalities and farmer leaders to learn the best cultural practices of onion and garlic production in India.
Piñol also committed PHP1 million-worth of cold storage facility with 10,000 metric tons capacity for Miagao.
"This facility will address their marketing problem because they could store their produce here when farmers would opt not to sell their produce if the prevailing market price is low,” he said.
In a previous interview Recoter said that the garlic plantation in Iloilo covers only around five hectares. (PNA with reports from DA 6 RAFIS)
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