The Department of Agriculture initiated a comprehensive assistance program to aid Central Luzon farmers who have suffered notable amounts of damage and losses to their onion crops due to armyworm infestations.

Data from the DA Regional Field Office 3 (RFO 3) High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) shows that of the 10,338.88 hectares of onion farmlands in Nueva Ecija, the leading producing area of the said crop in Central Luzon, 17.8 hectares were damaged, of which 2,435 hectares were partially damaged.

With this, DA RFO 3, through the Regional Crop Protection Center, implemented several mitigating measures, including training approximately 749 farmers in effective pest control techniques since the start of the year.

Moreover, 72 sachets of Pheromone Lure and 50 sachets of Plant Growth Enhancer with Insecticidal Content were also distributed to the affected farmers.

According to DA, the HVCDP is also preparing the allocation of red creole and yellow granex onion seed buffer stocks by the end of March.

A P27 million allocation has been devoted to the assistance.

The latest DA’s price monitoring shows that local red onions are currently priced between P60 and P120 per kilo, while the imported variant is P130 per kilo, Local white onion, on the other hand, is currently priced from P50 to P100 per kilo, while the imported variant is priced at P80 to P140 per kilo.