Zubiri asks DA for concrete plan to address high fertilizer prices

“Grabe ka mahal na gid subong sg abono! (The prices of fertilizer now are very high!) Their prices are more than double already than the previous price levels, and they will increase more in the next few months, if we don’t act,” Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri lamented during his meeting yesterday Nov. 13, 2021 in Bacolod City with sugar industry leaders.

Zubiri discussed with officials of the different sugarcane planters’ federations the problems besetting the sugar industry, particularly the skyrocketing prices of fertilizer.

Present during the meeting were Enrique D. Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), Manolet Lamata of Unifed, Raymund Montinola of Confed, Mike Hinojales, Bomber Zayco, GJ Sarrosa, former Sugar Regulatory Administration Board Member Dino Yulo and other leaders of the industry.

“A few days ago, I talked with Agriculture Sec. William Dar. I approved the DA’s budget for 2022, with a colatilla that the DA should submit to the Senate a plan on how to address the problem on high fertilizer prices, and what concrete steps they would take to lower the prices of fertilizer,” the senator disclosed.

Zubiri admitted that the problem on high fertilizer prices is occurring not only in the Philippines, but it is also an international problem, because the price of Urea, being a by-product of fossil fuel, is pegged with the price of crude oil. Crude oil prices have been rising due to the gradual reopening of the global economy after the onset of Covid.

“However, there should be at least some sort of subsidy, or a concrete plan – long-term, medium term, short-term plan – not only for the sugar industry, but also for the entire agriculture sector,” he emphasized.

Zubiri narrated that Sec. Dar asked for help to secure an increase in the DA’s budget for fertilizer subsidy. The DA gives farmers a P1,000 voucher as fertilizer subsidy, which is not enough to buy even half a bag of fertilizer.

“The DA is requesting for additional funds to double the amount of fertilizer subsidy. However, the increase entails billions of pesos, a huge amount which has to be taken from other government programs. I’ll try to talk to colleagues at the Senate to see what we can do,” he assured the group.

“That’s the short term intervention. The medium term is to come up with an alternative, which is organic fertilizer. And the long term is to replicate what has been done by government decades ago, when we produced our own fertilizer under the government-owned Philphos in Leyte. Unfortunately, Philphos was sold under the government’s privatization program,” Zubiri explained.

He stressed that industry leaders and government officials have to look further on what can be done to address the problem. He suggested exploring the possibility of a public-private partnership in fertilizer production, pointing out that the country’s thousands of farmers need such an enterprise now more than ever.

Last week, NFSP president Enrique D. Rojas wrote a follow-up letter to the Agriculture Secretary, proposing a price cap on fertilizer prices and the direct government importation of fertilizer to be sold at subsidized or break-even price to farmers.

The senator was among the government official s furnished a copy of the letter, which was personally handed by Rojas to Zubiri during Saturday’s meeting.

Zubiri told the NFSP president that Sec. Dar will be at the senator’s office tomorrow, Monday to discuss further this fertilizer problem. He assured Rojas that he will give to and discuss with Sec. Dar the proposals of NFSP, as contained in that letter.

“We have to make sure that the price of fertilizer is affordable. If not, our gains with the present favorable price of sugar will be all for nothing, if our fuel cost is high, our fertilizer cost is high and our production cost keep on increasing,” Zubiri stressed.

“I am committed 1,000% to ensure that this industry stays afloat. This is the industry I grew up in as a young boy in my Dad’s farm in Himamaylan, and as a young man in the fields of Bukidnon. I will never leave this industry. I will continue to protect this industry. We will make sure that this industry continues to flourish,” he pledged to the leaders of the sugar industry.* (Butch Bacaoco)