Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Food committee, on Tuesday vowed to investigate the resurgence of a garlic cartel that resulted into a spike in the cost of garlic in the local market, now pegged at P200 per kilo from P140.
She noted that the rising cost of garlic is reminiscent of the 2014 scenario where the price of garlic has risen to more than P300 per kilo and prompted Villar to head a Senate inquiry into the matter.
“Our findings before, the farm gate price of garlic is P40 per kilo in Ilocos Norte. The landed cost of imported garlic is P17 per kilo. If you are to look at it, the price of garlic should not go beyond P100 per kilo. I was able to prove there was cartel," Villar said.
“We thought they have learned their lesson but now, the price increased again. But this is a different administration, the Secretary of Agricuture is different, the director of Bureau of Plant Industry [BPI] is also different. I have to let them know what happened last time so we can stop this cartel,” Villar said.
Villar filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 389 directing the Senate Committee to conduct an inquiry on the reported garlic importation by the Department of Agriculture and its implication to the sudden rise of prices in the market.
According to the resolution, the price of garlic per kilo increased from P140 to more than P200. It was also noted that there has been a reported decrease in local production, particularly in Ilocos Norte of garlic because of the lack of planting materials.
The DA reported that more than 57,000 metric tons of imported garlic has been given import clearance by the BPI and that as of this month, only 12,000 metric tons arrived.
The combined local production of garlic has only been on an average of 9,000 MT a year, or six percent only of the yearly demand of about 139,777 MT, which is barely a month’s garlic requirement of the country.
In July 2014, Villar presided over the investigation on the rising cost of garlic where she pointed out that the high price of garlic is due to manipulation because traders buy the import privilege of garlic cooperatives.
Villar also recommended the review of the mandate of the National Garlic Action Team, which failed to ensure stable garlic supply in the country and balanced representation from both government and private sectors.
“There is an urgent need to look into the garlic price situation to protect the general public from unscrupulous machination and provide a development policy for the local garlic industry,” Villar said.
