Bongabon, Philippines: Even before their onions are fully grown, Philippine farmers in Los Angeles race to harvest and cash in on eye-watering prices for the vegetable that has become a luxury item in the country.
Onion prices in Manila supermarkets have reached 800 pesos (about $15) per kilogram in recent months, making them more expensive than chicken or pork.
Some restaurants have cut key ingredients from dishes, while many families have stopped eating them as they grapple with the highest inflation in 14 years.
To meet demand and bring down retail prices below 200 pesos, the government has approved the import of 21,000 tonnes of onions and called for a crackdown on traders suspected of hoarding.
But prices remain very high and onion farmers like Engels are harvesting earlier than usual to reap windfall profits.
“What is happening is historic,” said Engels, 37, as his workers pulled red and white bulbs from the soil near the northern city of Bongabon, the country’s self-proclaimed “onion capital”.
“This is the first time prices have reached this level.”
When he started harvesting last month, Angeles received as much as 250 pesos per kilogram for his crop.
By the time his onions reached Manila supermarket shelves, the price had more than doubled, exceeding the daily minimum wage.
Customers buying onions at a market in Manila. (Jaime Sta. Rosa/AFP)
“I told my family, ‘Let’s smell it instead of eating it’,” said Candi Rosa, 56, as she walked through a market in the capital where she saw vendors selling bulbs the size of a small child’s fist. As much as 80 pesos each.
As onion memes spread on social media, the humble vegetable has become a symbol of wealth in the poverty-stricken country.
At least one bride used the pricey bulbs instead of flowers for her wedding bouquet.
Philippine Airlines crew members were caught on a recent flight from the Middle East trying to smuggle some bags of the sharp object through Manila’s airport.
It is not the first time the Philippines has experienced a shortage of a basic food staple that has caused prices to rise – sugar, salt and rice have all been affected in the past.
Poor yields, high input costs, insufficient investment in irrigation and machinery, lack of access to cold storage facilities and roads from farm to market, and crop-destroying storms have long plagued the region.
Pest outbreaks as well as rising oil and fertilizer prices have added to farmers’ woes since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
A farmer harvests onions in a field in Bongbon, Nueva Ecija province, northern Philippines. (Jaime Sta. Rosa/AFP)
Despite the government’s pledge to boost domestic food production, the country relies heavily on imports to feed its growing population – but tariffs fuel inflation.
President Ferdinand Marcos appointed himself agriculture secretary to repair the nearly moribund industry, which accounts for about a quarter of the country’s employment but makes up only 10 percent of gross domestic product.
“Our agriculture sector has been greatly challenged,” said Jeanie Lapina, professor of agricultural economics and management at the University of the Philippines.
Official statistics show that each Filipino eats an average of 2.34 kg of onions per year and theoretically the country produces enough to meet demand.
But since the tropical climate permits only one planting per year of a rain-favourable crop, the stock is consumed or spoiled before the next harvest.
The recent removal of COVID-19 restrictions, which allowed for the resumption of food-centred festivals and family gatherings for Christmas, boosted onion demand.
William Dar, who was agriculture secretary in the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said the shortage could have been avoided if the current government had allowed imports in August.
“It’s the result of poor planning,” Dar told local broadcaster ABS-CBN.
Concerns are growing about future food security in the Philippines, which is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and plagued by poor nutrition.
The average age of farmers is 57 years and the average agricultural plot has shrunk from about three hectares in the 1960s to about 1.3 hectares.
Many farmers are sharecroppers who do not own the land they cultivate and cannot make the investments needed to improve productivity without government help.
Salvador Catello, an agricultural economist at the University of the Philippines, said there are “many difficult challenges to be addressed immediately.”
“We have rich natural resource endowments that are absent in many countries that are performing (better) than us in terms of productivity and self-sufficiency,” Catello said.
As imported onions flood the country, Engels fears farm-gate prices could drop to 30 pesos per kilogram before his harvest is over.
“We’re just trying to keep our investment alive,” he said.