The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Saturday recommended to its executive committee to import 22,000 metric tons of red and white onions to bring down its price.

The decision was reached between a meeting of the DA on Friday after officials examined the situation on the ground.

''We have to distribute these if not in the first week of February but at the end of January to pull down the price (of onions),'' said Rex Estoperez, DA deputy spokesperson, in an interview at dzBB.

Fifty of percent of imported onions with 10 percent white onions will go to Luzon, said Estoperez. A total of 50 percent of imported red onions will go to Visayas (25 percent) and Mindanao (25 percent).

Peak harvest of onions, said Estoperez, is estimated to begin in March.

The price of red onions went up to as high as P700 a kilo, which exceeds the daily minimum wage of workers in the National Capital Region, last month.

The government imposed a suggested retail price of P250 a kilo late December but red onions continued to be sold above this amount in public markets.

''We can't do anything about it. The farmgate price of red onions is at P420 a kilo,'' said Estoperez. DMS