BONGABON: Even before his onions are fully grown, Philippine farmer Luis Angeles races to harvest the crop and cash in on eye-watering prices for a vegetable that has become a luxury item in the country.
In recent months, onion prices have soared, reaching as high as 800 pesos nearly US $15 a kilogram in Manila supermarkets, making them more expensive than chicken or pork.
Some restaurants have stripped the staple ingredient from dishes, while many families struggling with the highest inflation in 14 years have stopped eating them.
But prices remain stubbornly high and onion farmers like Angeles have been harvesting earlier than usual to reap the windfall.
It is the first time that prices have reached this level, said Angeles, 37, as his workers pulled undersized red and white bulbs out of the soil near the northern town of Bongabon.