Plants require essential elements for growth. Many of these essential nutrients can be found in the soil, but often in insufficient quantities to sustain high crop yields. Plants need 13 essential minerals and if any of them is lacking, plant growth and yield will suffer.
The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said fertilizer plays an important role in the country’s farm sector due to its significant contribution in increasing crop productivity. Fertilizer is needed to produce more food from land resources to feed a population that grows at an estimated pace of 2 percent per year. It is one of the important elements in the country’s bid to achieve food security.
However, the Philippines is heavily dependent on foreign markets for its fertilizer requirements (See “Dar plans to import fertilizer amid commodity price hike,” in the BusinessMirror, August 5, 2021). The DA pegged the country’s annual requirement for various fertilizer grades at 2.6 million metric tons (MMT). The Philippines imports 95 percent of its fertilizer requirements, which make it vulnerable to conditions that can affect output and prices.
One of the developments that could hurt the Philippines is the spike in international oil prices. As fertilizer is a byproduct of oil, increases in crude oil prices would put pressure on domestic fertilizer prices. The reopening of rich countries resulted in increased demand for oil, and the export bans put in place by international fertilizer producers caused prices of imported fertilizers to shoot up.
Local farmers have warned that if fertilizer prices will continue to rise, they will have to rethink their planting intentions (See, “Sugar planters to govt: Freeze fertilizer prices,” in the BusinessMirror, January 31, 2022). The agriculture sector’s performance would surely take a hit if farmers decide to stop planting crops altogether because of the surge in production cost. Consumers would also have to bear the brunt of higher food prices because the increase in production cost would be passed on to them.
The government has put in place a fertilizer subsidy program, which it expanded to assist planters who can no longer afford the farm input (See “DA moves to expand fertilizer subsidy program for farmers,” in the BusinessMirror, November 2, 2021). Unfortunately, the prices of some fertilizer grades have nearly tripled and there is no indication that this will go down any time soon. This development does not bode well for our sugar and rice planters, who are mostly smallholders and cannot afford to pay for more expensive fuel and fertilizer.
We hope that the national government will find a way to further expand the subsidy program to help smallholders cope with the spike in the cost of agricultural inputs and the price of fuel. The government can ill afford to shrug off these problems that could threaten the country’s food security. We need to help our farmers cope with the spiraling prices of fertilizers and other farm inputs if we want to guarantee the availability of food to our growing population.