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DA’s centralized procurement influenced drop in fertilizer prices, says official


The move of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to centralize procurement process has in fact helped fertilizer prices to go down, a top official of the agency said Wednesday.

Citing DA’s monitoring, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Noel Reyes said the prevailing prices of a bag of urea fertilizer has gone down to an average of P978, as of June this year.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the average price of urea is at P1,139 per bag in June 2019.

“Ibig sabihin na i-influence ng DA centralized bidding ang pagbaba ng presyo sa merkado,” Reyes said during a virtual forum.

The Agriculture official made the remark amid the controversy over the alleged overpriced fertilizers procured by the agency as part of its COVID-19 aid to affected farmers.

Farmers from Tarlac and Nueva Ecija have earlier alleged that the fertilizers distributed by DA under its stimulus program Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat Kontra COVID-19 were overpriced.

The farmers claimed that the DA purchased 1,811,090 bags of urea fertilizers for P1.8 billion in a series of biddings, which translates to at least P1,000 per bag.

They also said that the average retail price of urea fertilizer was only at P850 per bag—translating to a whopping P271.66 million in overpriced amounts in the DA’s procurement.

The DA has since denied the allegations, saying that the procurement process of fertilizers were corruption-free and were actually cheaper compared to national averages.

In the same forum, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Rafael Mariano said the DA should not have centralized its procurement, but should have done it regionally.

Reyes, however, explained the DA decided to centralize the procurement because the practice of regionally doing the bidding resulted in even higher prices.

“Kasi noong nakaraang mga taon iba iba ang presyong lumalabas na nananalo sa mga regional offices —may P1,300, P1,500, P1,100,” the DA official said.

“Sabi ni Secretary [William Dar] maraming umaangal sa linya ng mga magsasaka na tumataas pa rin ang presyo ng fertilizer... mabuti na nga ‘yun at bumaba na sa P1,000 ang presyo ng urea, ngayon palang nangyari 'yan,” he aded.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, an umbrella farmers group, last week called for a Senate investigation into such claims.

The House Makabayan Bloc has filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the alleged overpriced fertilizers procured by the Department of Agriculture (DA) amounting to P1.8 billion.—AOL, GMA News

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