Vice presidential aspirant Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan is pushing for organic farming and the use of organic fertilizers amid the rising cost of chemical fertilizers.
Pangilinan said on Thursday, March 31, that the rising prices of fertilizers must be turned into an opportunity to shift into organic farming.
“Baligtarin natin ang problema at gawing oportunidad. Sa kaso ng pagtaas ng presyo ng abono, gamitin natin itong oportunidad para palaguin ang paggamit ng organic fertilizer at pagtangkilik na rin sa organic farming (Let's turn the problem into an opportunity. Let's use the case of rising prices of fertilizers an opportunity to advance the use of organic fertilizer and organic farming)” Pangilinan said.
However, the senator recognizes that a complete shift to organic is not simple, as yields will suffer.
“Doon sa pwedeng mag-shift sa organic, mag-shift habang nagpupursigi tayong mag-produce ng sarili nating chemical fertilizers (For those who can shift to organic, go ahead and shift while we are working on producing our own chemical fertilizers). This is the more comprehensive approach,” he added.
Pangilinan, who has an organic vegetable farm in Cavite and produces his own organic fertilizer for his farm, said that together with other sustainable environment-friendly farming practices, the use of organic fertilizer replenishes the soil’s nutrients depleted during harvest time.
In February, the Department of Agriculture said it has only around 200 metric tons (MT) of fertilizer, which is far from the 600,000 MT that the country needs for the first quarter’s planting season.
The continuous price hike of fertilizer is attributed to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
According to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, retail price of prilled urea fertilizer averaged at P2,691.16 per 50-kilo bag from March 21 to March 25, or double last year’s retail price.
On the other hand, the average price of granular urea more than doubled from P1,051.42 to P2,650.85 per 50-kilo bag year-on-year; similarly the price of ammosul soared from P611.21 a year ago to P1,407.39 per 50-kilo bag now.