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THE Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corporation’s (Philphos)
problem of sourcing inputs for its fertilizer production suddenly
caught the limelight. While raw materials such as phosphate, sulfur,
ammonia and potash are available in the world market, the prices
have increased to an extent that makes the end
product—fertilizer—too expensive for our farmers to afford.
In Argentina , the farmers are so
empowered that they can go on strike and cripple the entire country.
The Filipino farmers, however, remain poor and powerless. They have
rarely benefited from increases in prices of farm produce.
Historically, the Department of Agriculture and local agriculturists
have failed to assist the farmers develop more productive farming
methods. While there is no rice or food crisis in the hinterlands of
Samar where this soldier is operating, the farmers there have never
seen an agriculturist, he told me. The agriculturists at the
municipal level, he added, don’t know what they are doing, they
don’t know their job, and worst, they don’t have the passion for
what they are doing.
Going back to Philphos’
predicament—which is also the predicament of the farmer whose farm
is dependent on inorganic fertilizer—the company has identified an
alternative raw material. It isn’t the sulfuric acid from
Philippine Associated Smelting And Refining Corporation (PASAR).
Sure, when PASAR and Philphos were established by the government 30
years ago, the intention was that the sulfuric acid, a by-product of
PASAR’s production of electrolytic copper cathodes, would be used
by Philphos as an input in its fertilizer production.
However, both companies were
later privatized. A Swiss company invested in PASAR. PASAR
discovered that it could make money by exporting its sulfuric acid,
sulfuric acid that the company hadn’t always been able to get rid
of. For years, PASAR has been earning additional foreign exchange
for the country on its sulfuric acid exportation. Philphos, on the
other hand, put up its own sulfuric acid plant. The company has been
exporting about 50% of its fertilizer production to Thailand and
Vietnam. In other words, the rice that we’ve been importing from
Vietnam has been fertilized with fertilizer produced in the
Philippines. However, due to the surge in prices of raw materials,
Philphos has reduced its production to a level where exportation
isn’t feasible.
Philphos and PASAR, while sharing
history and location, are two independent private companies that
provide jobs and generate revenues for the local and national
economy. Penalizing PASAR for exporting its sulfuric acid—a
product in which nobody took interest until recently—isn’t going
to solve the problem of soaring prices of fertilizer. According to
Philphos, PASAR’s production of sulfuric acid makes up only about
50 percent of Philphos’ need. The prices of raw materials,
especially Earth’s finite minerals, will continue to go up
worldwide. The supply can hardly catch up with the demand even if
new deposits are discovered, developed and utilized.
Philphos is asking the government
to allow it to mine pyrite from the closed Bagacay Mine in
Hinabangan, Samar. Hauling of pyrite from the Taft River (where it
was dumped years ago) in Eastern Samar could generate income for the
local community. Right now nothing will grow in the abandoned mine
site because of the exposed mineral ore and pyrite. Pyrite exposed
to water and air forms sulfuric acid, which becomes acid mine
drainage that could cause fish kill, among others. Removing the
pyrite from the Bagacay Mine might thus be an environmentally better
solution than simply leaving it there—aside from giving domestic
fertilizer production a much needed boost. This must however be
studied carefully by the DENR and MGB. Mining operations in the past
caused massive pollution of the surrounding environment including
the Taft River. One crisis shouldn’t be solved by haphazard
solutions that lead us straight to another problem.
We need long-term strategies that
would minimize our agricultural sector’s dependence on chemical
fertilizer and toxic pesticides. The country boasts of brilliant
agricultural minds such as Dr. Romulo Davide who aren’t motivated
by narrow vested interest in the promotion and development of
agricultural technologies. Our neighboring countries adopted
technologies developed by Filipino scientists. We, on the other
hand, have to a large extent allowed narrow business interests in
crop production—from seed, biotech, fertilizer, and pesticide
companies to middlemen and traders—to dictate the parameters of
government assistance to farmers at the local level.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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