The Department of Agriculture (DA) should review a recent memorandum order that would limit the type of fertilizer that rice farmers could use, Senator Imee Marcos on Monday, May 15, said. Signed on April 27, Memorandum Order 32 (MO 32) promotes the distribution of yet unnamed biofertilizers to rice farmers nationwide, in place of inorganic urea. After the May 2022 presidential elections, President Ferdinand "Bongbong’’ R. Marcos Jr., younger brother of Imee, took over the DA as acting DA secretary. Senator Marcos aid farmers' groups reaching out to her office expressed fears that the government project could put their crop yields and potential income at risk. "What benefits soil ecosystems  may not necessarily duplicate  past levels of rice production," the lady senator said. Marcos noted that the El Nino’s phenomenon's near certainty this year already poses a threat to rice production, with water allocated for irrigation from Angat Dam scheduled to be cut this week. "Biofertilizers still need to be tested on a sufficient scale to prove that rice production costs can be lowered and better harvests achieved," she explained. Numerical data in MO 32 "need thorough recomputation to bring biofertilizer goals closer to reality," Marcos said. She cited that the quoted price of P2,000 per kilo of urea was 33 percent to 82 percent more than the prevailing market price of P1,100 to P1,500. A separate document on the DA's guidelines for suppliers also shows that the price peg of P6,000 per five-gram pack of microbial-based biofertilizer was more expensive than urea. In terms of projecting crop yields, Marcos also pointed out that the variable nitrogen content of biofertilizers made them less reliable than urea's clear 46-0-0 NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) ratio that rice farmers have been used to. The DA's regional field offices will have the authority to decide on what biofertilizer brands to distribute to rice farmers, which Marcos said might be prone to corruption. "Rice farmers know best what fertilizers to use," she explained. "The government should maintain the system of giving them cash vouchers for fertilizer subsidies,’’ she added. Marcos warned that if biofertilizers fail to fulfill the promises of MO 32, the government would have to resort to larger rice imports that tend to bring down rice farmers' income. "Farmers are happier now, with farmgate prices of palay at 22 pesos per kilo. If biofertilizers can keep it that way, why not!" she said.