After all the problems the Philippines are facing regarding onion volumes, President Danilo Fausto from the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. has warned of another food crisis, this time involving garlic, if the Department of Agriculture fails to increase dwindling production.
Fausto said that the country imports 93 percent of its garlic requirements, noting that the country needs 100,000 tons to 110,000 tons to meet local demand.
"We only produce less than 10,000 tons yearly," he said. The shortfall could mean that garlic "could be next [crisis], it will explode," Fausto said.
He said that for many decades, the DA had neglected the country's garlic production: "It will take a few years before you can really reverse the situation because the issue took several years before it happened. It was decades of neglect.” He took the DA to task for resorting to importation to fill the garlic shortage.
[ P100 = €1.70 ]
Source: manilatimes.net