The Department of Agriculture-MIMAROPA (DA-MIMAROPA) through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) and Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation Program (F2C2) linked three (3) farmer cooperatives from Occidental Mindoro to different institutional buyers in Metro Manila, Palawan, and Quezon Province.
The Samahan Gumagawa Tungo sa Tagumpay Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SAGUTT MPC) in the municipality of Sablayan is delivering an initial of 5MT of onions to Waltermart-North EDSA in Quezon City and 2.7MT was also delivered at the DA’s Agribusiness Development Center in Elliptical Road cor. North Ave in the same city on April 21. While on April 22, SAGUTT MPC will also deliver 3MT of onion to Balintawak Market.
Meanwhile, Mindoro Progressive Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPMPC) in the municipality of Mamburao sealed a deal with the Palawan-based Project Zacchaeus Marketing Cooperative (PZMC) to market 850 bags or 22.9 tons of onions in Metro Manila and Palawan. The MPMPC will shoulder transportation expenses from Oriental Mindoro to Manila, while PZMC will bear freight costs from Manila Port to Palawan. The price will depend on the current market status in the area.
Prior to these, Lourdes Multipurpose Cooperative in the municipality of Magsaysay inked a deal with Sentrong Pamilihan in Sariaya, Quezon. The latter has bought 2,625 kilograms or an estimated 97 bags of onion from the said cooperative. The Sentrong Pamilihan has also bought LMPC’s unsold 1,575 kg of onion.
Onions were bought by the institutional buyers at P30-P35 which is greater than the breakeven production cost per kilo of P18.00. Accounting the hauling cost of the deliveries, farmers will be earning P3 to P8 per kilo.
Deliveries of onions to institutional buyers are still at trial stages to see the market's demands. According to AMAD, if cooperatives are able to sustain the needs, these cooperatives will be regularly supplying the onions to the said institutional buyers.
Meanwhile, DA is currently crafting the memorandum circular for the P5 million financial grant to farmers cooperatives which will be used as trading capital to buy onions directly from farmers including the non-coop members, hauling costs, delivery to markets and cold storage facilities, and cold storage rental fees.
