THE Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) issues appropriate import permits — technically known as SPS or sanitary and phyto-sanitary import clearance — when warranted or needed mainly to stabilize supply and prices of particular agricultural commodities.
BPI Director Clarito Barron said his agency continues to issue import permits, particularly for onions and garlic, and the agency has been and remains fair in the issuance of import clearances.
He made the clarification to disprove the claim of the Philippine Federation of Food Industry, Inc. (PFFII) that the DA-BPI has not issued permits for onions and garlic since 2010.
“The claim of PFFII as reported in newspapers is untrue and baseless because the BPI has issued several import clearances for garlic in 2010 and for onions since 2011. And we remain fair in the issuance of import clearances,” Barron said.
He said the DA-BPI, upon consultation with farmers and industry leaders, issues appropriate permits to import particular agricultural commodities when there is inadequate supply and when prices begin to surge.
“If the supply of a particular commodity is inadequate and its price surges upwards, government intervenes by issuing permits to import said particular commodity,” said Director Barron.
Barron said the claim of PFFII that prices of onions and garlic in 2010 have reached P210 and P120 per kilo, respectively, are untrue and bloated.
Based on BPI market monitoring in 2010, retail prices of onion ranged from P90 to P120 per kilo, while garlic was sold at P40 to P60 per kilo.
Barron said harvesting of garlic and onions is ongoing in many parts of the country. Initial field reports indicate that this year’s production would be better, the BPI chief said.
Last year, total production of garlic amounted to 8,490 metric tons (MT) worth P774.37 million at current prices, while onion harvest totaled 124,830 MT worth P3.89 billion at current prices, according to estimates of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.