Two Chinese fertilizer manufacturers have signed a cooperation agreement with the Philippine International Trading Corporation, which Malacañang believes would result in lower prices of fertilizers.
On Saturday, the Presidential Communications Office announced that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has secured the said business agreements during his three-day visit to Beijing.
PCO officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil said the President expressed appreciation for the Chinese government’s help in his administration’s bid to help farmers and ensure food security.
“We look forward to a steady supply of fertilizer inputs needed by our farmers through these agreements,” the President said during a roundtable discussion on 5 January with chief executive officers from the agribusiness sector in Beijing.
Marcos said the cost of agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers, has “become prohibitive and unaffordable for our local farmers.”
Farms must be sustainable
“Providing a sustainable and affordable supply of inputs such as fertilizers and seedlings has become more difficult, given global economic challenges, as we have all seen in the supply chain problems that we have encountered,” he said.
For the President, one of the strategies to address this is to establish cooperative agreements with suppliers so the government can buy these inputs in bulk and to be able to sell them to farmers at a lower price.