This Christmas season, raffle draws will be a dime a dozen. But instead of standing a chance to win the usual smartphone or microwave oven, one lucky winner will take home kilos of onion, garlic, and ginger.
With the exorbitant prices of onions today — and farmers warning late last month that rates could climb as high as PHP400 (US$7.09) — the prospect of winning these staple goods adds extra allure.
Agricultural social enterprise Rural Rising, which helps local farmers around the country sell off their surplus produce, announced that they were going to raffle off onions, garlic, and even ginger — “the kitchen trifecta,” they called it.
For PHP100 (US$1.81) each raffle slot, a winner may take home 10 kilos of onions, garlic, and ginger each, amounting to a total of 30 kilos.
The local onions were sourced from Bongabon, Nueva Ecija; the garlic from Itbayat Island, Batanes; the ginger was harvested by farmers from Ragay, Camarines Sur.
The latest price monitoring sheet from the Department of Agriculture showed that a kilo of local red onions was being sold in marketplaces for PHP280 (US$5.06), local garlic for PHP250 (US$4.52), and ginger for PHP120 (US$2.17).
