DA centralized bidding to benefit farmers

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino farmers stand to benefit from lower prices of urea fertilizer following a centralized bidding conducted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) last April.

In a virtual press briefing Thursday, DA officials said the price of urea, a widely used fertilizer in the Philippines, dropped below P1,000 per 50-kg bag following DA’s successful centralized bidding. Previously, prices of urea were hovering at more than P1,100 per 50-kg bag.

“The downward trend of urea prices shows that we’re on the right track in centralizing the bidding process, thus providing our farmers nationwide with affordable and reasonably-priced fertilizers,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

The urea fertilizers will be given free to farmers participating in DA’s Rice Resiliency Project (RRP) under a “buy two, take two” scheme for those who use certified inbred seeds and “buy two, take three” for hybrid users, Dar said.

Debunking claims of alleged overpricing, DA assistant secretary Noel Reyes said that the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the fertilizer bidding of the DA Rice Program was based on the month-long price trends collated by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on FPA data, the national average price of urea fertilizer from February to April was P1,051/bag. The same price trend was noted in retail outlets across the Philippines based on copies of actual receipts and invoices presented to media.

After the first and second biddings, 1.8 million bags were awarded to two companies, namely: La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. and Atlas Fertilizer, offering urea at prices ranging from P900 to P995 per 50-kg bag.