Agriculture

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz The swine sector, which is now reeling from the rampage of the African Swine Fever as with so many other countries around the world, would take a long time to recover from this virus. An article on Pig Site said Dr. Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian of the National Pork Producers Council in Des …

After decades of lucrative profits from exporting ores of precious metals (iron, steel, nickel, gold, copper, etc,), the mining industry claims it is not yet ready for a total ban on ore exports, which Congress is now considering passing bills to discourage ore shipments in place of finished mineral products, where the country could earn more from. In a statement, …

Executive Director Glenn Estrada of the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority said his agency is open to granting long-tenured certificate of product registration of up to 5 or 10 years just like the licenses for Land Transportation Office, but this must be based on track record of the product, consistency of ingredients and encouraging outcomes of the product on actual farms. …

By Rose de la Cruz With its immense power, the Department of Agriculture is nothing to be scared about as far as agricultural stakeholders are concerned.  Rice traders and importers do not heed the maximum suggested retail price (SMRP) of DA, neither do meat and pork traders and importers. Even its warnings on violations of current laws on imports and …

By Rose de la Cruz Despite the government’s  claims that farmgate prices are at P18 to P24 per kg., the more realistic report is coming from farmers who are complaining that current farmgate prices are driving them to their graves. In a radio interview, the Magsasaka Partylist said at least three Nueva Ecija– the country’s rice bowl for decades now–  …

By Rose de la Cruz The Masungi Georeserve in Rizal will be the Marcos administration’s litmus test on its commitment to either environmental conservation and preservation or its hunger for foreign investments regardless of possible destruction to the environment. If it upholds the eviction of the foundation that has been reforesting and conserving the the Sierra Madre Mountain ranges,, often …

By Rose de la Cruz Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, who was guest of honor and speaker at the inauguration Sunday of the P200-million Bio N biofertilizer plant facility of the Agri Specialist Inc. in Sta. Rosa, Laguna asked why the adoption of biofertilizer in the rice sector has been too slow and why there was more imported biofertilizers when a …

BEYOND ELLIPTICALBy Rose Marie de la Cruz Farmgate prices for palay– which is now beginning harvest– have been dropping to as low as P14 per kilogram (even lower than the historical average of P16 per kg). Industry sources blamed the declining farmgate prices to low price of imports and low productivity of our farmers (amid high cost of production inputs  …

A review of the Rice Tariffication Law to determine if it had complied with its commitment to keep prices of rice at affordable levels and help rice farmers through various initiatives is needed. Comebacking Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. (Ifugao) said the RTL was supposed to prop up the country’s rice sector through collection of tariffs from imports. The RTL, passed …

After setting a P58 per kg suggested retail price (SRP) for rice last January 20, the Department of Agriculture is setting a P380 per kg SRP for liempo (belly) and P350 per kg for kasim (shoulder) and pigue (hind legs) beginning March 10. The SRP would be adopted in markets of the National Capital Region to ease the financial strain …