Senator Risa Hontiveros warned on Wednesday, April 8 that farmers’ monthly income could plunge to nearly half the minimum wage in some provinces due to higher fertilizer prices.

Hontiveros pointed this out as she renewed her call for a supplemental budget package for agricultural workers and other vulnerable sectors.

“Rising costs and limited fertilizer supply threaten lower yields, higher food prices, and rock-bottom earnings for our farmers,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“I urge Malacañang and our colleagues in Congress to support our proposed P52.8 billion supplemental budget, which includes an initial P2.8 billion agricultural subsidy to help farmers buy fertilizer supplies,” she said.

Based on her office’s estimates, the senator said farmers in areas like Central Luzon may see earnings drop to as low as P7,275 a month or less than half of the roughly P16,200 minimum wage for agricultural workers in the region.

Hontiveros lamented that the Middle East conflict has driven fertilizer prices up, raising farmers’ overhead by 30 to 40 percent.

She also noted that increased rice imports have caused a declining trend in farmgate prices, and this may force local farmers to sell at unjustly low rates.

“This means a farmer producing 120 cavans of hybrid rice per hectare may earn only P7,275 to P11,775 a month, should farmgate prices drop to P19 or even P16 per kilo,” she said.

Such amount, she said, is not enough especially if the farmers still owe money to traders and lenders. 

“With the high cost of goods today, our farmers and their families are really at a loss. If farmers' income does not even reach half of the minimum wage in a month, many of them may be forced to stop farming,” she warned.

“The government must step in and support our farmers before our nation's food security is put at risk, ” she added.

“Kung hindi man lang aabot sa kalahati ng minimum wage ang kita ng mga magsasaka sa loob ng isang buwan, baka marami sa kanila ang mapilitang tumigil na sa pagsasaka. The government must step in and support our farmers before our nation's food security is put at risk, ” she added.

She said the budget support needed by farmers may go beyond the initial P2.8-billion proposed agricultural subsidy under her supplemental budget bill if the conflict continues throughout the May to August season.

The budget support needed by farmers, she said, may actually reach to P100 to P189-billion. 

“We need to expand assistance to our farmers so that they and the entire agricultural sector can survive the oil crisis. While the Department of Agriculture (DA) has begun assistance programs, its budget for the rice industry in 2026 is only above P50 billion. And we can’t expect Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) crisis funds to be spent on farm production inputs,” she said.

“We must prepare to help our farmers and other struggling Filipinos not just in the next few weeks, but in the many months ahead. That is why Congress and Malacañang must work together to pass the supplemental budget bill,” she reiterated.