Yap said 239,936 bags of fertilizer worth P114.4 million have been readied for distribution to farmers. The target is to distribute 327,986 bags up to October.
The program was launched following President Arroyo’s instruction for the Department of Agriculture and NFA to intervene in the procurement and distribution of fertilizer for farmers participating in the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Rice Program. It aims to increase local palay production and help ease the farmers’ woes on the increasing cost of farm inputs.
Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. has earmarked P432 million for the program.
Under the program, the NFA distributes two bags of fertilizers to each farmer-beneficiary for every hectare of land being tilled at a maximum of two hectares per farmer.
The fertilizer assistance program covers the May-October wet cropping and the November-April 2004 dry cropping season.
According to Yap, the NFA was tapped to act as conduit in this program considering the storage facilities that the agency operates nationwide which shall be the depositories of the fertilizer stocks. Likewise, the agency has the expertise in grains marketing.
Beneficiaries of the program are farmers included in the local government units (LGU) and DA’s master lists. These farmers are required to pay only half of the total cost of the fertilizer they were issued. However, they must also buy their own certified and hybrid seeds to be able to avail of the subsidized fertilizers.
The program promotes the adoption of our local farmers of the so-called recommended package of technology including the application of balanced fertilization strategy.