Shortage hikes fertilizer price by P200 in S. Cotabato

<a href=www.abs-cbnnews.com>Today@abs-cbnnews.com By ROMER S. SARMIENTO TODAY Correspondent

KORONADAL CITY - Farmers in South Cotabato province have complained of the skyrocketing prices of farm inputs reportedly by as much as 50 percent, or P200, prompting the provincial government to bring the matter to the attention of the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA), which blamed the increase to the shortage of supply.

In response to the concern raised by South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes, Alita Bornea, a ranking official of the FPA, said among the factors that triggered the increase in prices of urea and ammonia fertilizers were the export ban imposed by Indonesia on the commodity and the political crisis that hit Venezuela last year.

Fuentes earlier said that prices of the fertilizers have gone up from P400 to P600 a bag, stressing that this “prohibitive price increase is detrimental to our farmers who can barely survive the demands of living.”

“Indonesia stopped exporting fertilizers in mid-2000, which created a void in the local market as traders prefer sourcing the items from that country owing to its proximity to the Philippines,” Bornea said in reaction to the issue.

She said the Indonesian government banned the export of farm inputs “to reconcile it domestic needs.” Indonesia exports at least 100,000 metric tons of fertilizers a month.

In Venezuela, Bornea said the political crisis that hit it last year caused a shortage. Venezuela normally exports some 50,000 metric tons of fertilizers to the United States alone.

Bornea stressed that the is apparently being taken advantaged of by industry retailers.

In Luzon , FPA inventory as of March showed there are only 31,000 bags of urea and ammonia in the market, compared to the 74,089 bags needed by farmers all throughout the area.

In Visayas, 5,000 bags have been inventoried for the same period by the FPA, but the actual demand in the area is 34,473 bags, leaving a deficit of 29,473.

Mindanao, which is a largely agricultural island, has the widest shortfall of 69,089 bags. There are only 5,000 bags available but the demand is 74,089 bags.

Overall, the country has a short fall of 141,651 bags of urea and ammonia fertilizers following the total inventory of 41,000 bags, with a demand of 182,651 bags.

In response to the complaints of farmers in South Cotabato, Rey Legasti, provincial agriculture officer, said Monday that “the provincial government will implement a buy-one, take-one scheme to alleviate the plight of the farmers.” Under the scheme, farmers who are recognized by the provincial agriculture office can have twice the bags of fertilizers they would buy. He said that if a farmer would buy a bag of urea or ammonia in any agricultural stores in the area, the provincial government would pay for another bag.

Funding for the project will come from the national government, said Legasti. However, the farmers who earlier availed themselves of the 50-50 seed procurement program are not qualified to the new scheme.

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