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By Jason Gutierrez
, Agence France-Presse
MANILA: Trinidad Domingo has just
harvested rice from her modest farm in the northern Philippines, but
with the price of fertilizer and oil skyrocketing she says she might
sit out the next planting season.
Just like many small-scale rice
farmers in Asia, Domingo—who farms two hectares (5 acres)—has
not seen any benefit from the record prices being paid for the
staple.
Instead they have found
themselves saddled with rising fuel and fertilizer costs, and the
diminishing returns that result from higher costs.
He Changchui, the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) regional representative for Asia,
said fuel and fertilizer costs were the “main culprits driving up
food prices.”
In Thailand alone fertilizer
prices have risen by 30 percent since last September, according to
He.
“We are all feeling the pinch,
because what we earn simply isn’t enough to keep up with our
costs,” Domingo, 56, told AFP.
Domingo’s fellow farmers in the
Nueva Ecija region of northern Luzon at first thought they could
cash in on the supply crunch.
With the price of rice rising by
40 percent in two months and the government scrambling to build
stock amid possible export caps from rice-producing neighbors, the
upbeat mood did not last long.
“The big traders didn’t want
to buy anymore, fearing they would be accused of hoarding by the
government,” Domingo said.
“Our farm inputs and production
costs, including land preparation, rose faster than the selling
price of our commodity,” she added.
“I’ve just harvested, but the
government wants me plant again in May when the first rains arrive,
but I don’t know if I can,” she said.
The price of fertilizer has risen
with China recently jacking up export levies by more than 100
percent as other countries compete to stock up on the commodity for
their own food security plans.
In the Philippines, where 20
percent of fertilizer supplies come from China, a bag of urea-based
fertilizer has gone up by 30 percent to P1,700 ($41).
Urea is a crystalline substance
that contains nitrogen which is widely used on soil to produce
better yields. About 60 percent of the country’s fertilizer needs
are imported.
Domingo says she would have to
spend around P50,000 for 12 bags of fertilizer, crude oil for
machinery and water for irrigation.
“After all my trouble, I would
probably just about clear $60,000 ($1,463) once I sell all my
harvest,” she said.
A year ago she would have earned
almost double that after costs and assuming prices had remained
constant.
Florence Sevilla, an agribusiness
specialist with the University of Asia and the Pacific, noted that
sudden increases in food prices also wreaked havoc among the
planters.
“Farmers would not normally
apply fertilizer when the cost is high, so production becomes
low,” Sevilla said.
“Because they also use tractors
and fuel, their costs have also markedly risen, and next to that the
seeds and other [inputs],” she said.
She blamed government for its
failure to modernize the farming sector, including the proper
redistribution of farmland under its agrarian reform program.
“The problem is that our
farmers remain as small land stakeholders. They do not have the
capacity to spend for production,” she said.
Jessica Cantos, of the
Manila-based farmer’s advocacy group R1, says farmers would do
well to hold on to some of their produce otherwise they are likely
to end up buying it at a higher price in the markets in the coming
lean months.
She says farmers may opt to go
organic, stressing that there have been case studies showing that
nonchemical farming produces better yields.
“But then the question is, are
there enough organic fertilizers to use,” she said.
She said it was ironic that
farmers are “getting the raw end of the deal” despite the good
farm-gate prices for their produce.
But for Domingo, who supports an
extended family of more than 20 siblings, in-laws, nephews and
nieces, comfort can be found in the land she tills.
“There was a time I only
cleared P3,000 ($73) after harvest, but then I never pay for what I
eat because I get it from my farm, and that is a blessing,”
Domingo said.
“That is how hard it is being a
farmer, but I don’t have any other choice except to grin and bear
it,” she said.
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