Sugar planters to govt: Freeze fertilizer prices
THE United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) on Sunday joined calls for the government to immediately impose a price freeze on fertilizer to help sugar planters, particularly small-scale farmers, cope with soaring fertilizer prices.
UNIFED urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry to immediately issue a price freeze on fertilizer products. The group noted that the cost of fertilizer in the market has “almost tripled” in less than two years.
UNIFED President Manuel Lamata said his group has been appealing to the government since last year to implement the price cap on fertilizers or at least subsidize the cost of the farm input.
“When we first asked for help, the cost of urea fertilizers was already at P1,900 per 50-kilogram bag from P800-P900 just a year ago. Now, it is being sold at P2,300-P2,400. With the start of the planting season, there will be many farmers who may not be able to afford fertilizers and this will affect production in the next crop year,” Lamata said.
“Remember, the sugar industry is composed of 85 percent small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries and our worry is that, with the high price of fertilizers plus the high cost of fuel and other agricultural inputs, these small farmers may not be able to survive to see another crop year.” Lamata said the rise in sugar prices is not enough to compensate for the high production costs that sugar farmers are incurring today.
“The DA and DTI have to move and address this before it gets out of hand.”
He added that the surge in oil prices is also putting pressure on sugar production as higher diesel or gasoline prices “affect all aspects of sugar planting from land preparation to milling.”
“Diesel prices were less than P30 per liter two years ago and now it has breached the P50 per liter mark. How else can our small farmers survive when the price of fertilizers, fuel and other inputs is equal to or even more than the price of their produce,” he said.
“This is unacceptable and something has to be done. Worse is the inaction coming from the Sugar Regulatory Administration which should have addressed this before it reached this situation.”
Last week, the DA announced that it is preparing to implement a P500-million fuel subsidy program.
(Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/01/24/dareadies-%e2%82%a7500-m-fuelsubsidy-program-for-farmersfisherfolk-amid-oil-price-hikes/)
In a statement, the DA said the government has allotted P500 million this year to bankroll a fuel subsidy program for the agriculture sector to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices on food production. The fund is stipulated in Special Provision 20 of the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022 or Republic Act 11639.
“We sincerely thank President Duterte and the honorable members of the Senate and House of Representatives for approving the fuel subsidy program that appropriates P500 million for the fuel subsidy program that will benefit millions of Filipino farmers, fishers and consumers nationwide,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said.
“The fuel discount will definitely help reduce the production and transport costs of major farm and fishery products, and subsequently temper their respective market prices, thus benefiting producers and consumers alike.”
Special Provision 20 stipulates that a fuel discount program would be in effect if the average Dubai crude oil price, based on Meat of Platts Singapore for three months reaches or exceeds $80 per barrel. The beneficiaries of the program must be farmers or fishers who own and operate agricultural and fishery machinery individually or through a farmers’ organization or cooperative.