A group of farmers is urging the Philippine government to end the liberalization of fertilizer importation in the country and start regulating the prices of this essential farm input.
This was the response of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) to a Business Bulletin story quoting Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) Executive Director Wilfredo Roldan, who said local fertilizer prices “are beyond the Philippine government’s control amid a liberalized regime.”
Roldan issued the statement last August 12 following demands from farmers groups for a probe on the incessant increase in the local prices of fertilizer.
“We agree with FPA director Roldan that liberalization is the reason behind the government's impotence at regulating fertilizer prices. This is among the things that we would like to fetter out in a legislative inquiry. It's time we abandon liberalization and reclaim our sovereignty on food production,” KMP National Chairperson Danilo Ramos said.
Ramos explained that the FPA was not as powerless as it is today. “Domestic fertilizer production was the stress of government policies since the 1950s. This took the form of protective tariffs, subsidies for local farmers, and active price regulation. By 1981, tariffs on fertilizers of various grades were estimated to be at 31.3 percent.”
Tariff rates on fertilizers today range from 1 percent to 3 percent; and even zero, for countries the Philippines has free trade agreements with.
“Things took a turn in 1986, when the fertilizer industry was liberalized. Subsidies were stopped and PHILPHOS was later privatized, and tariffs were effectively removed," Ramos said.
"The FPA was weakened and transformed to serve only in issuing standards and managing registries. Since then, local fertilizer production has almost disappeared,” he added.
PHILPHOS was first established in June 1980 as a government-owned and controlled corporation. It is a private entity now owned by mining and telecoms magnate Salvador ‘Buddy’ Zamora II, and the government of Nauru, a microstate in Oceania.
Meanwhile, for his part, Anakpawis chairperson Rafael Mariano encouraged Congress and the Senate to hold inquiries, precisely for lawmakers to understand how to address farmers’ plight on the uncontrollable fertilizer prices through reforms in legislation.
Last August 12, the Makabayan bloc filed in Congress House Resolution 2103 to “conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on steadily increasing prices of fertilizer.” KMP said the House Committee on Agriculture and Food must tackle the resolution as soon as possible.
The price of 50-kilogram bag of urea fertilizer (Triple 14) in Tarlac jumped from P1,100 in July to P1,500 as of this month, based on price monitoring of KMP chapters in the provinces.
In Nueva Ecija, the price of Swire 46-0-0 brand went up from P970 to P1,200 per 50-kilo bag in just a month, while Triple 14 became costlier from P1,250 to P1,500 per 50-kilo bag. In Isabela, farmers observed that the price of Triple 14 went up from P1,100 in July to P1,350 to P1,400 as of this month.