THE United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) has urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to subsidize the cost of fertilizers by immediately issuing a P1,000 voucher per bag of fertilizer for sugar farmers who have been greatly affected by the continuing rising cost of the commodity.
Unifed president Manuel Lamata, in a press statement Monday, November 15, said the cost of urea fertilizers have more than doubled in just months.
Lamata said that from the P800 to P900 per 50 kilogram bag, it went up to almost P1,900 per bag.
“This is unacceptable and we want the Department of Agriculture to act on this, otherwise our production will definitely go down again,” he added.
The sugar leader pointed out that this is one problem that needs immediate action especially since more than 80 percent of the sugar producers are small planters.
“How else can our small farmers survive when the price of fertilizers is equal or even more than the price of their produce,” he also said.
For Unifed, this could have been prevented if the DA and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) were on top of the situation and should have acted on this problem before it reached this situation.
“We have yet to hear their action plan on how to resolve this or at the very least find a balance that will not cripple our industry,” its president said.
The federation also expressed support to the call of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who earlier said that the government must initiate programs to produce organic fertilizers and other proactive measures to ensure that our small farmers are protected.
“Our government has always been reactive when it comes to industry problems,” Lamata said, adding that “it is high time that we put competent people in government agencies that foresee these problems and can provide immediate solutions.”