Garlic production expected to grow 38% this year

January 7, 2013 5:33pm

Garlic producers are expecting an increase in garlic output this year by more than a third of total output in 2012 to 40,000 metric tons (MT).

The volume will be more than enough for local demand, which reaches 20,000 to 25,000 MT annually.

Garlic production in 2012 reached 29,000 MT, bolstering local growers' call to end importation.

“There is no need for imports. We will have enough supply year round,” said Batanes garlic farmer representative Arnold de Sagon in an interview Monday.

De Sagon, who is the president of the Itbayat Garlic Producers and Multi-Purpose Cooperative, said that the crop estimates for 2012 and 2013 did not factor in the contribution of independent garlic producers.

“Which means that production may even be higher than what we are projecting," he said.

Because of the expected bumper harvest for 2012 and 2013, local garlic growers are also contemplating exporting the crop, initially to neighboring countries.

The garlic industry's current situation is a far cry from its state in the 1990s, when the opening of the market to imports drove down local growers' revenues.

De Sagun said that the Department of Agriculture helped boost the sector by creating linkages between farms and by providing market technical support and assistance in the form of training, farm inputs and post-harvest facilities. — BM, GMA News