The Department of Agriculture (DA) has completed the procurement of the first batch of fertilizers under the rice resiliency project for a total of 1.8 million bags of urea below ceiling of P1,000.
The purchase prices were lower than the national average in April in May and from previous purchases at P1,300 to P1,500 per 50-kilogram bag.
The volume procured comprises four of the 16 lots for wet season 2020 cropping.
The DA has pegged the budget of P1,000 per bag after consultation with various players in the industry and recommendation of the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority based on a four-month price monitoring trend.
La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. will deliver 97,615 bags at P990 per bag in Calabarzon, 694,904 bags at P995 per bag in Western Visayas, and 911,073 bags at P995 per bag in Central Luzon.
The other winning supplier was Atlas Fertilizer for the delivery of 107,498 bags at P900 per bag to Central Visayas.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) assured the distribution of the next batch of machines under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) will push through within the next two months, despite the lockdowns and quarantines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baldwin Jallorina Jr., PhilMech executive director, said the next batch of machines for bidding and awarding to qualified farmers cooperatives and associations (FCAs) under the mechanization component of RCEF will be about 50 percent bigger than the first batch, as it will have a budget of P3 billion.
The next batch of farm machines for bidding will benefit another 1,068 FCAs. The bidding is scheduled to start from the last week of June or the first week of July. The first batch of machines being distributed under the RCEF mechanization component worth P2 billion is comprised of four-wheel tractors, rice combine harvesters, rice reapers, precision seeders, walk-behind transplanters, riding-type transplanters, hand tractors, floating tillers, mini rice threshers, mobile rice mills and rice mills.
Except for the four-wheel tractors, rice planter/seeders and rice combine harvesters, the rest of the equipment were locally fabricated. These will benefit 624 FCAs and delivery will start this month.
The agency estimates that farm mechanization can lower the cost of producing palay by P1 to P2 per kg. At present, the cost of producing a kg. of palay in the Philippines is P12.72 while it is P6.62 in Vietnam and P8.86 per kg. in Thailand.