We're all feeling the inflation pinch. The cost of food and energy skyrocketed in 2022. In Canada, the price of a liter of gasoline passed $2 for the first time last summer. Just a couple of winters ago, our celery jumped to $10 each when the usual cost is about $2 to $3. More recently, Californians saw their lettuce skyrocket in price to as high as $11. Crops have been infected with the INSV virus for the last couple of years, decimating yields and driving prices higher.
Around the world, food prices have risen for a number of reasons. One of the biggest is the Ukraine War which affected fertilizer and wheat exports. Others are natural, such as the INSV virus affecting lettuce crops in Cali. Animals and insects can destroy crops literally overnight. Other causes can be drought or heavy rains.
In the case of the Philippines, the cause was a spate of super typhoons in the last year. Tens of billions of Pesos in crops were lost as heavy winds and torrential rains washed away entire fields. The one item that was most affected were their onion crops.
Filipinos love their onions. They include it in almost every dish they prepare. I love onions too. It adds flavor in salads, soups, pastas, breakfasts and steak meals, to name a few. It's so popular that they consume some 20,000 metric tons per month.
Most people in the Philippines live on a meager income. It's gotten so bad that onions are now three times more expensive than chicken. Inflation in recent months soared to 8.1%, a 14 year high. So while onions have overshot in price, everything else has also increased in price, forcing citizens to forego certain purchases of food items.
Red and white onions are selling for about 600 Pesos per kilogram (2.2 lbs) while chicken is selling for about 220 Pesos ($4). It's gotten so bad that smuggling onions is on the rise. On December 23, customs officials seized $310,000 worth of onions concealed in a clothing shipment. Just 2 days prior, another shipment of red onions worth some $364,000 was found hidden inside pastry boxes from China.
Recently elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., chimed in, saying that he hoped to find a way to sell the smuggled onions in order to alleviate the issue and bring down prices and reduce supply issues. A new crop will be ready by the end of the first quarter which should help balance things out a bit this spring.
In the meantime, it looks as if the people of the Philippines will have to make due with these higher prices by using less onions for a while. Hopefully, the 'Great Philippine Onion Crisis' will have dissipated by April or May.
The best way to alleviate this issue is to encourage citizens to grow their own onions. It's quite simple really. They can be grown directly in the ground or in pots and are easy to take care of. Community gardens are an excellent way to grow food for those living in apartments.
Here in Canada, it's winter and it's cold outside but would you believe I have carrots, brussels sprouts, leeks, lettuce, turnips, parsnips and of course, onions growing under the protective cover of clear plastic sheets and are doing fine. Yes, there are some crops that will do well in winter with proper care. Another plant that's doing well outdoors with no covering is kale. I have red and green kale and although they've slowed down a bit because of the shorter days, they are doing great. Next spring they'll flower and produce thousands of seeds for me.
I'll never run out of kale again!
Peace and Love to everyone.
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