By Manny Piñol
Rice farmers in irrigated areas of the country, estimated at 1.2-million hectares, will be the first beneficiaries of President Rody Duterte’s National Fertilizer Support Program which will provide 9 bags of fertiliser for every hectare on No-Interest Credit starting October this year.
The program, which was crafted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) following a directive by President Duterte to “provide fertilisers to farmers”, will initially cover farmers who plant rice in an estimated 4.7-million hectares every year.
It will be implemented by Planters Products, Inc., a farmers’ corporation which is supervised by the DA, which has already implemented a similar program with a repayment rate of 99%.
The PPI on Thursday signed a Fertilizer Supply Agreement with a Dubai-based Russian company, Vigorous Alliance, which will deliver to PPI the needed volume of fertiliser on a 6-month credit.
Vigorous Alliance Chief Executive Officer Merdan Gurbanov and his colleague, Lev Dengov, arrived in Manila last week following a visit to Moscow two weeks ago by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines and officials of PPI and the CIIF-OMG.
Under the National Fertilizer Support Program, farmers who belong to the Irrigators Associations, the Small Water Impounding Projects Associations (SWISA), the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and associations or cooperatives, will be properly identified by the Regional Offices of the DA.
The identification and validation of the rice farmers and their areas will start immediately. This will be undertaken in cooperation with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Local Government Units.
Each validated farmer will be issued the Juan Magsasaka Identification Card which he will use in claiming his fertiliser supply.
He will get 9 bags of fertiliser recommended by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) which will consist of four bags of Urea, four bags of Complete and one bag of Muriate of Potash.
The farmer beneficiary will automatically get an insurance coverage from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation to ensure that if his crops are destroyed by calamities, he will be able to repay his fertiliser loan.
The farmer will be asked to repay his fertiliser loan after harvest to enable him to avail of another round of fertiliser support for the next planting season.
Vigorous Alliance CEO Gurbanov assured PPI that the price of fertiliser which will be sourced from Russia and other Eastern European countries will cost less than those being sold in the market and will be of better quality.
The Fertilizer Supply Deal between Vigorous Alliance and Planters Products is the major accomplishment of the trade and promotions trip of the DA Secretary to Moscow who was assisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs through Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos D. Sorreta.
The National Fertilizer Support Program is the first attempt by any administration to provide farmers with the needed fertiliser for their farms to increase their productivity.
What makes this program unique is that there are no government funds involved and is purely a private-to-private engagement facilitated by the DA and the DFA.
With proper fertilisation, rice productivity is expected to increase by at least two metric tons per hectare.
(File photo from IRRI shows a Filipino rice farmer applying fertiliser in his rice farm. Second photo shows Vigorous Alliance CEO Merdan Gurbanov and PPI President Rodel Mañara forging the fertiliser supply agreement witnessed by the DA Secretary and DA Legal Officer Benito Dangazo and other PPI officials. Photo by Mayette Tudlas)
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