President Marcos Jr., concurrent agriculture secretary, is looking at measures that would help address the fertilizer needs of rice farmers and at the same time ensure the annual rice production goals are met.
The President on Saturday met with the executives of Chen Yi Agventures in Malacanang and discussed how the private rice production and processing firm could help farmers affected by the rising prices of fertilizers.
“This step is part of our coordination with private sector and efforts to hear their voice. In this regard, we well study the suggestions of the said company,” Marcos said in Pilipino in a social media post.
Chen Yi Agventures, according to their website, is a leader in sustainable agricultural production and a major contributor to food self-sufficiency in the Philippines.
It was founded by the husband and wife team of Patrick Franí§ois Renucci and Rachel Tan-Renucci-Tan who established their rice processing center in Alangalang in Leyte to help “impoverished, debt-ridden farmers emerged hopeless from the ravages of typhoon Yolanda.”
They produce affordable, high quality rice that they supply throughout the country. They also use Japanese technology to dry, weigh, mill and sort rice and seeds to produce “all natural,” “pest and pesticide-free,” aromatic rice.
Through its RENUCCI Partnership program, Chen Yi Agventures also provide framers “loans interest loans in kind” such as fertilizers, pesticides, and one kind of high yielding seed, as well as high-tech planting and harvesting equipment to increase the quantity and the quality of their palay.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said the Department of Agriculture (DA) issued Memorandum Order 65 in October for the updated guidelines on the implementation of a fertilizer discount voucher project under the National Rice Program.
Except for the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the program shall cover all regions and provide fertilizer vouchers to eligible beneficiaries that planted inbred and hybrid rice seeds.
The vouchers provide discounts when purchasing urea fertilizers for palay planting and eventually cushion the potential impacts of “under application of urea fertilizer to palay production and ultimately food security.”
It also aims to enable rice farmers to supplement the requirement for urea fertilizer for their rice production; to mitigate the impacts of the projected decline in production due to low usage of urea fertilizer, attain the target yield of 4.22 metric tons per hectare of palay for 2023, and stabilize the rice supply situation in the country despite challenges in the price of commercial fertilizers.
“The use of fertilizer vouchers offers an alternative to farmers with lowered purchasing power to buy a sufficient volume of urea recommended for their rice area,” the DA memo read.
Funds for the provision of fertilizer discounts, shall be sourced from the DA’s regular budget under the 2022 General Appropriation Acts (GAA) and its unprogrammed regular agency fund and shall have a value equivalent to P1,131/hectare for inbred, and P2,262/hectares for hybrid.
The discount vouchers are for one-time use only and may be claimed at any accredited fertilizer merchants in the preferred area of the farmer-beneficiaries.
For the 2022-2023 Dry Season implementation of the fertilizer discounts, shall be sourced from the 2023 GAA and the unprogrammed funds.
