THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said it was considering other means to provide for its fuel subsidy program as the war in Iran rages.
“We are seeing other possible funding that was not used and is currently with the Development Bank of the Philippines,” DA spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said. “We can also look at how we can retain this with the DA for release to farmers and fisherfolk, instead of being returned to the Treasury.”
The DA is likewise looking at the Presidential Assistance for Farmers and Fisherfolk Program (PAFFP) funds to supplement fuel aid, de Mesa said. “We are coordinating with the operations group on how this can be tapped if the problem in the Middle East would be prolonged,” he noted.
The PAFFP has a total budget of P10 billion for calamities and is scheduled for processing between the second and third quarters of the year.
Last week, the DA said it was ready to distribute around P100 million in fuel assistance for farmers and fisherfolk amid anticipated oil price hikes resulting from the war in Iran.
Another P50 million, representing the balance from the DA‘s unused P150 million fuel budget in 2025 but still valid this year, may be requested from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), de Mesa said.
The P100 million was released to the DA when crude oil prices breached $80 per barrel last year.
On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered his office to ask for the release of the P50 million balance.
Eligible farmers and fisherfolk will receive P5,000 and P3,000 each, respectively. Over 14,000 farmers and 23,000 fisherfolk are expected to benefit from the program.
Organic fertilizers
Furthermore, de Mesa said the DA also wants to use organic fertilizers and biofertilizers amid anticipated price hikes in synthetic commercial brands, still due to the war in Iran.
“In some studies, [it was found that] biofertilizer can replace up to 50 percent of the synthetic fertilizers,” de Mesa pointed out.
“We have seen an increase in fertilizer [prices] — from P1,600 [per bag], it is now at P1,650 and other [brands] reaching P1,700,” he said, citing shipping costs as factors.
But it won‘t probably reach the P3,000 per 50-kilogram bag level during the Russian-Ukraine war, said de Mesa.
There are also discussions on how the DA can tap state-owned Planters Products, Inc. to give farmers access to affordable fertilizer.
The chances of having a fertilizer subsidy would depend on recommendations and parameters created by a DA team that Tiu Laurel has formed to prepare for interventions when the situation worsens.
The DA wants to avoid a decline in productivity that occurred previously due to the high fertilizer costs. Still, production costs will spike and farmers‘ incomes will drop if the recommended fertilizer usage level is maintained even when fertilizer prices are high.
“We don‘t want that to happen because it would affect pricing of palay and rice at the farmgate level and in the market,” de Mesa said.
