Sugar producers group joins call for price freeze on fertillizers

NEGROS. United Sugar Producers Federation president Manuel Lamata. (Contributed photo)
NEGROS. United Sugar Producers Federation president Manuel Lamata. (Contributed photo)

THE United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) has joined the call urging the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DA) to immediately issue a price freeze amidst the skyrocketing cost of fertilizers that has almost tripled in less than two years.

Its president Manuel Lamata, in a press statement Sunday, January 30, 2022, said they have been appealing to the DTI and DA since last year to “implement a price cap on fertilizers or subsidize the cost but it seems our calls have been falling on deaf ears.”

Lamata said that when they first asked for help, the cost of Urea fertilizers was already at P1,900 per 50-kilogram bag from the P800 to 900 price just a year ago. Now, it is being sold at P2,300 to 2,400.

With the onset of the planting season, there will be many farmers who may not be able to afford fertilizers and this will affect production in the next crop year, he said.

“Remember, the sugar industry is composed of 85 percent small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries and our worry is that, with the high price of fertilizers plus the high cost of fuel and other agricultural inputs, these small farmers may not be able to survive to see another crop year,” Lamata added.

He also finds it ironic that there are complaints about the high price of sugar “when it cannot even compensate with the high cost of all inputs we need to continue cultivating our sugar fields.”

“The DA and DTI have to move and address this before it gets out of hand,” the Unifed official said, adding that even their call for fertilizer subsidy, at the very least, has not been answered since last year.

The group also cited the hike in oil prices, which is a basic commodity in all aspects of sugar planting, from land preparation to milling.

“Diesel prices were less than P30 per liter two years ago and now it has breached the P50 per liter mark. How else can our small farmers survive when the price of fertilizers, fuel and other inputs is equal to or even more than the price of their produce,” Lamata said.

He further said that “this is unacceptable and something has to be done. Worse is the inaction coming from the Sugar Regulatory Administration which should have addressed this before it reached this situation.”

“Our government has always been reactive when it comes to industry problems. It is high time that we put competent people in government agencies that foresee these problems and can provide immediate solutions,” the sugar producer added.

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