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NFSP favors Marcos as head of Agriculture

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In a statement, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) expressed high hopes that the decision of President-elect Bongbong Marcos to head the Department of Agriculture will be beneficial to the entire agriculture sector.

“President-elect Bongbong Marcos has first-hand experience with agriculture. When he was Governor of Ilocos Norte, he boosted the rice and corn yields in his province. When he was Senator, he also authored bills which supported agriculture,” said NFSP President Enrique Rojas. 

“With his experience as the local chief executive of his province and as a legislator, incoming President Marcos can readily recognize and immediately act on the problems which have been besetting agriculture for many decades,” Rojas added.

The NFSP president cited such problems as insufficient government support for crop financing, farm mechanization, research and development, high fertilizer and fuel costs, and protection from importation of cheaper, highly subsidized agricultural products which displaces local products in the domestic market.

Rojas pointed out that the sugar industry plays a key role in the country’s economy, as demonstrated by its contributions in keeping the Negros economy afloat during the height of the COVID pandemic, and he hopes that President Marcos will appreciate the sugar industry’s contributions in sustaining the country’s economy during the pandemic.

With Marcos at the helm of the Department of Agriculture, he can pursue bills which support agriculture, and he can also introduce and immediately implement programs which can further boost our agricultural output, Rojas further said. 

The war in Europe between Russia and Ukraine has aggravated the cost of fuel and, worse, it drove fertilizer prices to more than three times their original cost before the pandemic. High fuel prices and fertilizer costs will reduce the productivity and will drastically lower the profits of farmers.

“We hope that President Marcos will also recognize the threats of ever-increasing fuel and fertilizer prices being faced by our farmers, and that he will institutionalize programs which can help secure the sustainability of our agricultural sector and the sugar industry for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of marginal farmers and their families,” said Rojas.*

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