Fertilizer Prices

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2005/06/08/bus/agri.dep.t.asked.to.check.fertilizer.p rices.html ednesday, June 08, 2005

Agri dep't asked to check fertilizer prices By Ben O. Tesiorna NORTH Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol is asking the Department of Agriculture (DA) to check on the rising prices of fertilizers in the country. In an interview here in Davao City last week, Piñol said he recently passed a resolution before the League of the Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) regarding such that he said, the LPP adopted. The governor said the high prices of fertilizer here in the Philippines made the farmers suffer more with less profit. "Farming has become unprofitable for the farmers," Piñol said. He said a sack of urea outside the country sells as P350 while here in the Philippines it's sold at P950 per sack. Piñol said due to this the income of farmers had decreased considerably. On the other hand, the governor is also asking the DA to re-assess the allocation of the agriculture budget on rice and corn production. It was learned that 50 percent of the DA budget goes to rice and corn production. Piñol said it's high time for the DA to look into the potential of other high-value crops and give them enough budget as well to improve their production. "Dapat bigyang pansin din nila yung ibang high-value crops like the rubber, banana and fruits," Piñol said.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/43587 Published May 2 2008 by Energy Bulletin Archived May 2 2008

Fertilizers - May 2 by Staff Click on the headline (link) for the full text. Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage up. (30 April 2008)

ealers Prices of Fertilizers (Monthly/Annual), 1990-2008 Annual 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 20 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 000 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 08 Philip pines Urea 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 7 9 8 9 (45-0- 56. 64. 12. 68. 82. 63. 88. 65. 79. 40. 66. 36. 30. 37. 28. 05. 99. 54. . 0) 09 60 81 60 67 88 72 64 75 73 53 34 52 90 22 38 64 61 [..] Data not available [...] Data not yet available Data based on BAS Weekly Cereals and Fertilizer Price Monitoring (WCFPM) covering 5 dealer-respondents per province Latest update: 200807-09 14:00 Source: Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) Contact: [email protected] Unit: [ peso per sack of 50 kilograms] Matrix: FRPRF101 http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/june/27/yehey/top_stories/20080627top1.html P faces corn shortage Official blames high prices of fertilizers for crisis By Conrad M. Cariño, Senior Desk Editor Barely recovering from a rice crisis, the country faces a major corn shortage that could cause a domestic shortfall in meat products and force the closure of firms involved in the livestock and poultry industry. In a consultative meeting Thursday on the commercialization of organic and microbial fertilizers, Dennis Araullo, the head of GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Corn Program, said the high prices of inorganic fertilizers are forcing many farmers not to plant corn, or cut their planting of the crop by half. Corn in the Philippines is largely grown for animal feeds. If the national production of corn does not meet the 7.9-million metric ton target for this year, the country may have to import the grain. This option poses problems, since corn is in short supply worldwide because it is a major biofuel crop. “The [corn production] gains in the first quarter is significant, but worldwide, we could not find corn supplies. Corn is very expensive, and it is also used as biofuel [feedstock],” Araullo explained to journalists during a meeting in Quezon City. The Department of Agriculture has declared a no-corn importation policy for this year, even if about 120,000 metric tons of corn were imported in 2008. Araullo said a corn shortage will badly hit the domestic livestock and poultry industry, possibly forcing the closure of many firms in that industry. If that is not enough, people who eat white corn in place of rice will also be affected, and

might switch back to eating rice. Based on estimates of local food experts, up to 15 million Filipinos are eating white corn instead of white rice. Problem with fertilizers Araullo blamed the high prices of inorganic or chemical fertilizers for farmers wanting to give up or to cut back on corn production. During the consultative meeting, Dr. Norlito Gicana, the executive director of the Fertilizers and Pesticides Authority, disclosed that a bag of urea now costs between P1,800 to P1,900 per bag, and that the increasing prices of crude oil in the world market are to blame. As of April, one bag of urea costs about P1,200. Most inorganic fertilizers are made from crude oil. Because of the high prices of inorganic fertilizers, the Department of Agriculture through its various agencies, such as the Bureau of Soils and Water Management, wants more farmers to start using organic and microbial fertilizers, while cutting down on the quantity of chemical inputs. “Organic fertilizers cannot totally replace inorganic fertilizers, but the good quality of organic fertilizers should be in order,” Gicana said. Self-sufficiency target This year, the corn production target is 7.37 million metric tons, which is about 9 percent higher compared to the 6.74-million metric tons production in 2007. Araullo said the 7.37-million metric ton target translates to a corn self-sufficiency level of 94 percent. The Agriculture department is aiming for 100-percent corn sufficiency in 2009 or 2010. About 2.7 million hectares of lands are planted to corn. The first-quarter production of corn hit 1.99 million metric tons. The figures for the second quarter are not yet available. Importing more corn would be very expensive for the Philippines, since its price is P13 to P14 per kilo. In the US, the price is about P15 and in Argentina, P15.60, excluding freight cost, which is about $125 per metric ton. Because of the possible major corn shortage, Gicana said the Agriculture department will set talks with the Land Bank of the Philippines to provide financing for corn farming and the production of organic fertilizers. “We’ll try to talk with LandBank on how they can help in corn and organic fertilizers,” he

added. Another option is to provide subsidy coupons for fertilizers to corn farmers. Rice growers have been availing of subsidy coupons for rice.

http://cache.search.yahoo-ht2.akadns.net/search/cache?ei=UTF8&p=price+of+fertilizers+in+the+philippines&sado=1&fr=ytff1&u=www.fertilizer.org/ifa/publicat/PDF/2002_singapore_cipriano.pdf&w=price+prices+ fertilizers+fertilizer+philippines&d=ftp96C72Q-FB&icp=1&.intl=us “Recent agricultural and fertilizer developments in the Philippines ” Paper by Mr. Victor Cipriano Fertilizer Industry Association of the Ph

Grains of Truth Food Producers Suffer Hunger, Poverty “Kawitang palakol” and “gawat” are terms that refer to times when food is scarce, usually the weeks before harvest season when the farmers have spent all their money on fertilizers and pesticides and harvest time is still far away. The considerable increases in the prices of farm inputs and terribly low price of palay ((unmilled rice) have however made the whole year a period of “gawat” for the Filipino farmers. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat Celestino Ariel, 60, started farming at the age of 18. His family is a tenant, tilling a three-hectare farm in Barangay (village) San Roque, Naic in Cavite province, 39 kms south of Manila. To work their land, Mang Celestino borrowed P12,000 (US$214.29 at US$1=PhP56) from a local money lender. The contract he signed stated he should pay one cavan of palay per P1,000 he borrowed in addition to the whole amount loaned. The amount he borrowed however was barely enough to shoulder all expenses: farm inputs at P6,230, labor cost from planting to harvesting at P 4,575, and rental of farm equipment at P1,500 – totaling P12,305. When harvest season came, Mang Celestino’s one hectare reaped a total of 80 sacks of palay. He used the 10 cavans to pay the thresher operator and another 15 cavans to pay the farm workers who helped harvest his products. He also paid P200 to the neighbors who helped him carry the products home (hakot). Less the 12 cavans he needed to give to the moneylender in addition to the P 12,000 he borrowed, Mang Celestino was left with exactly 33 cavans. However, because of the very low farm gate price – P7 per kilo or P175 at 25 kilos per cavan – he was left with only a total of P7,525. He was P4,475 short for his P12,000 loan.

Mang Celestino said he had to borrow money from his 80-year-old mother, Maria, to add to his loan payment. Landlessness Mira Luna Varon, 50, a widow with four children, is a former settler in the uplands of western Tarlac, 109 kms north of Manila. Her family used to till six hectares of land. In an interview with Bulatlat, Aling Mira said she and her neighbors were given a stewardship of the land they occupied by the local government in 1990. Harvests then were good because they had enough land to till, she said. In 1998, Aling Mira said the provincial government under Gov. Arturo Yap took around 200 hectares of land in the mountains, including Aling Mira’s. Aling Mira and her family were then driven out to look for land to till in the lowlands. Aling Mira found a hectare of idle land which, after being cleared of tall grasses, has served as her family’s source of livelihood and where their new home stands. All of Aling Mira’s children have graduated from high school and as much as she wants to send them to college, they are now all tied up in farm production. “Wala rin akong pera na ipampapa-aral sa kanila” (I have no money to send them to school), she said. The fear of being evicted again from the land they are tilling is very intense for the family since they do not have a land title. “Wala kaming kasiguruhan dito” (We have no security here), she said. Meanwhile, not far from Aling Mira’s land is the land being tilled by Bella Reyla. Aling Bella is tilling a hectare of land owned by Paulino Rela, a small landowner who owns eight hectares of farmland. Their landlord-tenant relationship is what they call buwisan: the landowner gets 25 percent of the total production while the tiller gets 75 percent but shoulders all the production cost. Aling Mira and Aling Bella are not alone in their plight. Research by the Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement) shows that 70 percent of farmers nationwide are landless. Backward agriculture Agricultural production in the Philippines remains agonizingly backward to this day. Although big agriculture-based corporations – such as canned pineapple producer Dole-Philippines in Cagayan de Oro, southern Philippines or the sugar producer Hacienda Luisita Incorporated in Tarlac – use high-tech machinery for their farm production and harvesting, the lowly Filipino farmers continue to make do with the age-old plow and slow-paced carabao. To prepare the land for planting, farmers have to rent hand tractor, at the following rates: Table 1

Cost of Hand Tractor Rental Province Cagayan Valley Tarlac Nueva Ecija Cavite

Rental Cost per Hectare P 1,200 P 1,500 P 2,000 P 1,500

Meanwhile, harvesting is still done by hand, using hand-held sickle. Later, the palay grains are spread on cemented ground and dried slowly under the sun. High cost of farm inputs Eligio Macagba, 66, owns more than three hectares of land in Barangay San Luis, Roxas in Isabela province. As an agrarian reform beneficiary, he paid the government P3,070 a year for 15 years, from 1974 to 1989, after which he was given a land title. Although he owns the land he tills, Mang Eligio, in an interview with Bulatlat, still complained of the high price of farm inputs. His expenses last planting season included: hybrid seeds at P 1,200 per sack and used two sacks per hectare for a total of P7,200; urea fertilizer at P820 per sack and used two sacks per hectare or a total of P 4,920; and 16-20-0 fertilizer at P800 per sack and used three sacks per hectare for a total of P7,200. He also had to use two kinds of pesticides: three quarts of herbicide per hectare at P400 per quart or a total of P3,600 and three quarts per hectare of the pesticide to protect the ricefield from kuhol at P1,000 per quart or a total of P9,000. Mang Eligio also paid 10 seasonal farm workers P1,000 per hectare or a total of P3,000 for planting and another P2,880 per hectare for eight farm workers for bunot-punla (harvesting) or a total of P8,640. For his three hectares of land, Mang Eligio shelled out a total of P43,560 for farm inputs and farm workers’ wages. These costs however vary from province to province. (See table 2). Table 2 Cost of Farm Inputs and Wage of Planters per Hectare Province Cagayan Valley Tarlac Nueva Ecija Cavite

Seeds

Fertilizers

Pesticides

P 1,200 P 1,620

P 1,400

Wage Total Cost of Planters (Mananananim) P 2,700 P 6,920

P 1,500 P 4,400 P 1,600 P 14,340

P 1,790 P 2,280

P 1,800 NA

P 9,490 P 18,220

P 2,000 P 1,440

P 1,350

P 2,000

P 6,230

Note: Rate cost for Nueva Ecija was based on planting by sabog. Regular rate for planters is P 1,600 to P 2,000. According to Joseph Canlas, chair of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL or Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon), the price of fertilizers has doubled this year as compared to last year making lives more miserable for small farmers. From P420 per sack, the price of urea has reached P850. Another fertilizer, the 141414 or triple katorse today cost P675 per sack from P375 last year. Table 3 Cost of production per hectare during harvest time Province Thresher Hakot Product Share of Total Cost Seasonal Farmers (Manggagapas) Cagayan 5 cavans (P8 per P150 Ika-13 (11 cvns in 150 P 3,350 Valley kl x 25 kls per cvn cvns per ha) (P8 per kl x 5 cvns = P1,000) x 25 kls per cvn x 11 cvns = P2,200)

Tarlac

Nueva Ecija Cavite

10 cavans (P7.80 P 500 NA per kl x 25 kls per cvn x 10 cvns = P1,950) 7 cavans (P7.50 P 1,500Ika-10 (10 cvns in 100 P 4,687.50 per kl x 25 kls per cvns per ha) (P7.50 per cvn x 7 cvns = kl x 25 kls per cvn x P1,312.50) 10 cvns = P1,875) 10 cavans P200 Ika-6 (5 cvns in 100 80 P 4,575 cvns per ha) (P7 per kl x 25 kls per cvn x 10 cvns (P7 per kl x 25 kls per = P1,750) cvn x 15 cvns = P2,625)

Struggling for survival Last Oct. 20, some 1,500 farmers from Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog trooped to Manila to voice their plight. They held what they called a “street conference” in front of the Department of Agriculture’s main gate in Quezon City. The farmers had declared a two-day farm strike to decry their worsening situation. Their demand: an increase in palay’s farm gate price which now ranges from P7 to P10 a kilo. The farmers are seeking that it be raised to P15 per kilo. If the peasants’ demand is met, Mang Celestino would get a gross income of P 16,125. “Makakabayad ako sa utang at may matitira pang pera kahit konti” (I can pay my debts and there could be something left), he said. But given that a family of six in Region II where Mang Celestino’s province is located needs an average of P455 a day or P13,650 a month to survive, whatever extra he would have left after paying off his debts would still never be enough for his family to live on, until the next harvest season. Table 4 Farm Gate Price Province Farm Gate Price of Palay Cagayan Valley P6.80 to P8 Tarlac P7.80 to P9.50 Nueva Ecija P7.50 Cavite P7.00 The KMP in a statement said that the price of palay has remained the same since 1990. KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos, himself a peasant from Bulacan, 40 kms south of Manila, suggested that the government, through the National Food Authority (NFA), should increase its procurement of locally-produced rice to 25 percent from its mandated 10 percent. “The government should buy more of the farmers’ produce so they would not be forced to sell to unscrupulous traders,” he said.

The peasant leader added that in the past few years, the NFA only buys one percent of the total amount of locally produced rice. He said this is due to the Arroyo government’s policy of trade liberalization that allows the entry of foreign produced rice that cost lower at the world market. The government’s policy stated that the liberalization of the rice industry would make the cost of rice cheaper in the local market. On the contrary, Ramos said that there has been a 100 to 300 percent average increase in the price of rice since 1994 when the country entered the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and, a year later, the World Trade Organization (WTO). KMP statistics show that in 1994, NFA rice cost P8.44 a kilo; ordinary rice is P8.86 and special rice is P9.50. Today, NFA rice already cost P16 a kilo; ordinary rice is priced from P17 to P18 while special rice varies from P20 to P28. But while the local market price of rice has increased by 100 to 300 percent in 16 years, the farm gate price of palay is nailed down to its price since 1990. “Nagsusumikap kami pero wala naman kaming napapala” (We’re working very hard but we get nothing), said Aling Mira adding that she and thousands of farmers like her hope that the government will listen and take action to their demand of raising the farm gate price of palay. “Sana unawain kaming mga mahihirap” (They should listen to us), she said adding that it has been decades that they feel the pain of the irony that the primary food producers in the country are the ones who are left hungry and poor. Bulatlat Table 5 Types of Usury Province Rate of Interest per loan Cagayan Valley 30 percent of total loan Tarlac 30 percent of total loan Nueva Ecija 1 cavan per P 1,000-loan Cavite 1 cavan per P 1,000-loan

http://www.bulatlat.com/news/4-38/4-38-grains.html