Phillippines government encourages local farmers to plant more garlic to decrease imports from China

The Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines encourages more garlic crops in the country for local market demand. The harvest for new crops is expected in March 2020. Since Onion and garlic are major spices that make meals distinctly Filipino, the demand for it is very high. The Philippines currently can only produce up to 11k MT garlic per year and therefore import more than 71k MT from China. The amount is expected to decline on the march following new crops to be harvested by the end of 1st quarter 2020.