Helping Pinoy farmers
PEOPLE believe that the government of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. is in a position to protect the interests and welfare of the country’s farmers.
In fact, President Marcos, who assumed office last June 30, is determined to bring down the costs of much-needed fertilizers as part of his efforts to attain food security.
The Chief Executive wants to personally pursue government-to-government (G2G) talks to import fertilizers from five countries, including superpower Russia.
Aside from Russia, the other countries are China, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia.
For the second time since he assumed office, President Marcos met with ranking officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) last Monday (July 18). He is also head of DA.
President Marcos said the five countries “want to help, they want to approach us, then let’s take advantage of that. Give us fertilizers at a very good price.”
Of course, we share the view of the hard-working 64-year-old President from Ilocos Norte that farmers need to have access to low-priced but quality fertilizers.
Since last year, our farmers have been urging the government to grant them fertilizer subsidies following the sharp increase in fertilizer prices in the local market. “Sa totoo lang, may mga magsasakang naghanap na lang ng ibang trabaho dahil sa sobrang taas ng presyo ng abono at iba pang gamit sa pagsasaka,” a farmer said.
“Talagang wala ng kikitain ang mga magsasaka,” lamented a 60-year-old rice farmer.
Thus, President Marcos is on the right track in doing everything to reduce the costs of fertilizers and pesticides.