Albay solon calls for production of domestic fertilizers

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joey Salceda on Monday called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure the production of fertilizers in the country.

According to Salceda, fertilizer production should be an "incentivized activity" under the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan (SIPP) - the list of sectors that are qualified for tax perks under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law.

"Mark my words, there will be a global shortage of synthetic fertilizers,” Salceda said in a press statement.

"Along with corn prices, this is the major threat to Philippine food supply. These are the most important inputs to both livestock and plant food,” the Albay lawmaker added.

Salceda further chastised the DTI and the Board of Investments for the supposed delays in the release of the SIPP as this "drags investor uncertainty over tax incentives to four years already" and this was unacceptable.

"We have oversight powers over the entire tax code. The SIPP is in the tax code. We will be compelled to call in the DTI and BOI by March 2022, if we don’t see meaningful results in the issuance of the SIPP," he said.

He stressed that the production of organic fertilizers, topsoil preservation, and other practices that ensured agricultural productivity would not decline when inorganic fertilizers become unaffordable to small farmers.

Salceda said there was a need to "diversify" the country's fertilizer mix.

"That includes the production of organic concoctions, which we have already trained thousands of Albay farmers for, anticipating this global shortage of inorganic fertilizers," Salceda said.

“I think the production of inorganic fertilizers for commercial use should also be included in the SIPP, as fertilizers are. If we will mitigate the effects of the potential shortage and price surges in inorganic fertilizer on food production, we need to have substitutes," he added. — DVM, GMA News