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President-elect and incoming Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. should shell out no less than P15 billion to broaden the federal government’s fertilizer subsidy program, which can assist farmers increase native rice manufacturing.
Outgoing Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar stated the incoming agriculture management the fertilizer voucher program will maintain the productiveness of rice planters.
“The newest calculations if we wish a sustained stage of productiveness and manufacturing quantity like final 12 months if not higher than the 19 million metric tons (MMT), with the balanced fertilization technique which can scale back by 50 p.c the appliance of chemical fertilizer, (authorities) must spend P15 billion,” Dar stated in a press briefing on Wednesday.
With out the extra fertilizer subsidies, the nation’s paddy rice output might decline by 1.1 million metric tons (MMT) to as a lot as 1.3 MMT or 715,000 metric tons (MT) to 815,000 MT in milled phrases.
The DA is at present implementing a P5.85-billion fertilizer voucher program, protecting some 3 million hectares of rice farms nationwide. (Associated story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/03/09/da-issues-rules-for-fertilizer-aid-scheme/)
Beneath this system, low cost vouchers might be utilized by farmer-beneficiaries to say fertilizers at accredited retailers. The vouchers may have a price equal to P1,131 per hectare for inbred rice and P2,262 per hectare for hybrid rice.
The DA stated the rice farmers’ manufacturing price of palay rose by P3.13 per kilogram attributable to costlier fertilizer which surged to a report P3,000 per 50-kg bag.
Resulting from increased fertilizer costs, rice farmers have been compelled to cut back their utility of the enter, leading to decrease yield.
Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian stated the nation’s palay manufacturing could fall under the 2020 stage of 19.3 MMT if the federal government will be unable to mitigate the influence of lowered fertilizer utility on output.
“However I believe the incoming administration is eager on implementing measures to mitigate the discount. Our palay manufacturing goal this 12 months is 20.4 MMT,” he stated. “So, we may have a tough time [achieving it] due to the discount in fertilizer use.”
Nonetheless, Sebastian stated the federal government nonetheless has sufficient time to bankroll one other spherical of fertilizer subsidies since planting for the moist cropping season will begin subsequent month. He stated, nevertheless, that the federal government should act instantly.
Agricultural manufacturing within the first quarter dipped by 0.3 p.c because of the contraction within the output of the crops, fisheries and livestock subsectors.
Dar earlier attributed this to “spiraling costs” of fertilizer, a vital enter for crops manufacturing, significantly rice and corn. (Associated story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/05/11/farm-output-dips-slightly-in-q1-fertilizer-price-spikes-blamed/)
The nation’s palay output within the first quarter fell by 1.9 p.c year-on-year to 4.541 MMT whereas corn manufacturing dropped to 2.441 MMT from 2.445 MMT, primarily based on information from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
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