Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Friday announced he has ordered state-owned Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) to allocate funds to buy large volumes of chili pepper or “sili” and munggo beans directly from local farmers to stabilize prices and reduce the country’s reliance on imports.
In a statement, Tiu Laurel said the DA identified sili and munggo as priority high-value crops this year.
For chili pepper, he said the focus is on dampening sharp price swings that regularly hit consumers; while for munggo beans, the goal is to boost domestic output to achieve self-sufficiency and preserve foreign exchange now spent on imports.
“We import significant volumes of munggo beans, mostly from Argentina, even though local production already reaches about 45,000 metric tons,” Tiu Laurel said.
The Agriculture chief said FTI should initially purchase up to 80% of domestic output — equivalent to around 3,000 metric tons a month — to incentivize growers by providing them with a reliable buyer and shielding them from volatile market prices.
For sili, Tiu Laurel said that “prices rise because supply tightens due to crop damage caused by increased rain.”
“By buying, processing, and distributing these crops, FTI will be fulfilling its real mandate,” he said. — BAP, GMA Integrated News