Marcos pursues deals with other countries for cheaper fertilizers.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), after meeting with President Marcos, who is also secretary of the Department of Agriculture, is continuing discussions on bringing down fertilizer prices.
Asked for details, DTI Undersecretary Carol Sanchez only stated: “regarding initiatives related to making fertilizer more affordable, discussions are ongoing."
This is part of government's attempts to increase local food production and supply, by offering more inexpensive fertilizer to local farmers, an official from the DTI said, Business World reported.
Sanchez declined to elaborate, saying that
“it would be premature for Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual to comment further at this time.”
Executive Director of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura Jayson H. Cainglet said that the price of fertilizer at the retail level has increased to P2,250 per 50-kilogram bag from P850 per bag the previous year.
“We met the President last week, together with the fertilizer industry. We laud efforts by the President in procuring cheaper fertilizer imports; either through government-to-government (G2G) or directly requesting importers to reduce prices,” Cainglet said.
Marcos stated that the government will make fertilizer deals with China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates on a G2G basis.
Raul Q. Montemayor, National Manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, suggested in a Viber message that the government work on distribution strategies as it negotiates the G2G agreements.
“I am not sure if the DTI is the right agency to handle fertilizer imports. Also, you need a lot of logistics to handle fertilizers. If price control is the objective, the local government units would be the better implementers,” Montemayor said.
Tags: #PresidentMarcos, #DTI, #fertlizers