Amid calls for Senate intervention on the rising cost of fertilizer on rice, a top official from Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) said price movements of this particular farm input are beyond the Philippine government’s control amid a liberalized regime.
As this developed, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will be issuing discount vouchers to eligible farmers for the purchase of fertilizers.
In a text exchange, FPA Executive Director Wilfredo Roldan said FPA has always been monitoring the country’s fertilizer inventory and prices up to the dealers’ level to ensure reasonable prices.
However, he also pointed out that “fertilizer importation was liberalized in 1986 and maintained VAT exemption to cushion the price escalation up to the farmers’ level”.
Roldan issued the statement when sought about his reaction to the call of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) for a Senate probe on the rising cost of fertilizer despite the supposed government interventions to bring down farm inputs in the country through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
To be specific, KMP Leader Rafael Mariano said the Department of Agriculture (DA) should explain to Congress where the P10-billion RCEF is going and why it is not helping bring down the cost of farm inputs in the country.
As part of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), which liberalized rice importation in the
Since May this year, fertilizer prices have constantly increased, further burdening rice farmers who are shouldering the entire cost of production.
According to the FPA, the average price of fertilizer imported by the country was at $500 per metric ton (MT) as of July, which is higher than the $276 per MT average price registered from January to May this year.
On average, fertilizer prices have increased by as much as 40.5 percent on an annual basis depending on the grade.
“On the issue of the increasing price of inorganic fertilizers, this is the results of supply and demand in the international market. The
Regarding the call for senate intervention on fertilizer prices, Roldan only said, “I trust the wisdom of the senate and their staff”.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary William Dar recently signed and issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 14, which ordered the implementation of the project entitled 'National Rice Program - Fertilizer Discount Vouchers to Rice Farmers" or referred to as the "NRP - Fertilizer Discount Voucher Support".
Under the project, farmer-beneficiaries will be allowed to claim inorganic fertilizers using discount vouchers.
The project, which has a total budget of P3.26 million, targets to cover 1.15 million hectares of land in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4-B, and 5.
Farmers will be provided with discount vouchers that they can use to claim the fertilizer. This discount voucher shall have a value equivalent to P2000 per hectare (/ha) for inbred and P3,000/ha for hybrid.
Vouchers may be claimed at any accredited fertilizer merchant, which can be a dealer, distributor, farmer cooperative and association (FCA) that has undergone accreditation process by the DA Regional Field Offices (RFO).
Rice farmers in target areas that are registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) will be eligible to avail of this discount. Farmers not yet registered may be served provided that they would enroll in the RSBSA through the printed forms issued by their respective local government units.
Interested DA-RFO shall implement the project in partnership with government banks. They must enter into a supplemental agreement with the government bank for the implementation of the said project.