DA adopts new fertilizer support program

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is adopting a new fertilizer support program next year in place of the fertilizer discount coupons that the DA has been giving out this year to farmer-beneficiaries in partnership with local government units (LGUs).

Instead of coupons, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the DA will provide organic fertilizer manufacturing support to farmers in 2,600 clusters or sites where the DA will channel a bulk of its funds for intervention measures.

Organic fertilizer manufacturing support and other intervention measures will be channeled to these 2,600 clusters as a way to rapidly boost palay harvests by raising up to the national average of 3.8 metric tons (MT) — or higher — the per-hectare output in relatively low-yielding provinces.

The clusters of adjacent or neighboring farms are spread out across 48 provinces, mostly in rainfed areas.

Yap said this major shift in farm production support is in step with one component of the DA reform program, which is the intensified promotion of ‘balanced fertilization’ as a long-term, calibrated approach to wean Filipino farmers away from expensive, imported petrochemical fertilizers.

The 30-percent jump in the prices of imported petro-based fertilizer has been cited as a major factor in the lowering of this year palay production target to 16.8 million MT from the earlier optimistic target of over 17 million MT.

“Balanced fertilization” means the use of a combination of chemical and organic fertilizers in crop production.

Aside from tweaking its fertilizer support program, the DA is focusing its attention on training more agricultural technicians to help farmers.

The DA reported that it has trained eight batches comprising 235 agricultural technicians at the local government level as part of its program to teach rice technologies, organic fertilizer manufacturing and other environment-friendly farming practices and technologies to over a half-million farmers nationwide by the end of the 2009 wet crop.

In a report to Yap, Agricultural Training Institute director Asterio Saliot said the eight batches are on top of the four batches of agricultural technicians earlier trained by the ATI under this new program.

The ATI is targeting to train 1,800 agricultural extension workers in 60 batches this year, and 144 more batches comprising another 4,320 technicians starting March till July 2009.

Aside from training on organic fertilizer manufacturing, Saliot said the ATI is also teaching trainors on new technologies to boost the production of palay, vegetables and root crops.

The 1,800 agricultural technicians who completed training in 2008 will, in turn, train 80,997 participants in farmers field schools during the December 2008 to March 2009 dry cropping season, and another 439,123 in 2009.