Following the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will distribute additional fertilizer assistance next month to support rice farmers nationwide.
The DA said in a statement that it is targeting to start the distribution of fertilizer assistance for the dry season 2022–2023 by December 2022 after the ongoing distribution of fertilizer discount vouchers funded through fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022 General Appropriations Act is completed.
Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said he directed the DA-Regional Field Offices to ensure accurate, efficient, and immediate delivery of the fertilizers that will be dropped off at strategic locations nationwide in coordination with the PITC and concerned local government units.
Panganiban has earlier convened the Regional Executive Directors and Rice Program coordinators of the DA-Regional Field Offices last November 10, 2022 to discuss the program updates, guidelines, concerns, and ways forward.
This is in line with the recent meeting of President Marcos with the top officials of DA, Department of Trade and Industry, and the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) regarding the country’s fertilizer importation requirements to boost local production.
The PITC was tapped to import the required volume of fertilizer at a lower cost through government-to-government arrangement. With a P4.1 billion fund, the DA will be able to buy about 2.277 million bags of urea to be given in-kind to farmers.
Marcos, who also serves as the DA secretary, is set to sign next week a memorandum of agreement between PITC and DA as a basic requirement for the fertilizer importation plan.
Earlier, the Magsasaka party-list said the plan of the president to import 150,000 metric tons of fertilizers from China next year will help farmers boost local food production and stabilize domestic food prices amid the spike in fertilizer prices.
According to the latest data from the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), the average price of urea (prilled) and urea (granular) per 50-kilogram bag as of October 28 reached P2,523.68 and P2,490.35, respectively.
Last week, Malacañang said the expanded implementation of the fertilizer discount voucher project under the National Rice Program is expected to fast-track efforts to expand rice production.