As part of his food security program, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has asked the Trade officials to ensure that cheaper fertilizers would be accessible for Filipino farmers.
At a Palace briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz Angeles said making fertilizers affordable for farmers is “among the things that were discussed by the President” during his meeting with officials of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Malacañang on Wednesday, 10 August.
Marcos, in his Facebook account, confirmed that he met DTI Secretary Alfonso Pascual to discuss ways to ease the farmers’ plight and reinvigorate the local agriculture industry.
“We want to revive the agricultural sector, that’s why we met with Secretary Alfredo Pascual of the Department of Trade and Industry. We want the fertilizers used by our farmers to be affordable,” he said in Filipino.
In a social media post on Wednesday evening, the Office of the President (OP) stated that Marcos instructed DTI officials to craft plans to ensure the availability of cheaper fertilizers.
“President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. met with DTI to iron out plans to increase the productivity of farmers by ensuring that fertilizers can be made affordable for them,” the OP said.
Marcos, who concurrently leads the Department of Agriculture, earlier said the government could avail of cheaper fertilizers through the government-to-government (G2G) deals.
He is looking into communicating with China, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Russia for the country’s procurement of fertilizers.