In a recent World Bank blog, Juergen Voegele, vice president for sustainable development at the WB, called on policy makers to immediately act as skyrocketing fertilizer prices are posing a threat to food security.
Governments were urged to take action to make fertilizers more accessible and affordable by providing credit facilities and encouraging efficient use to prevent a prolonged food crisis.
Voegele said short-term credit facilities and guarantees, mobilized with the support of international development actors may be needed. He also said governments could provide incentives to farmers to encourage a more efficient use of fertilizers and avoid overuse. Investments on newer practices and technologies to increase the output for every kilogram of fertilizer used were also encouraged. This includes investing in knowledge to ensure the best suited fertilizer and quantity are applied to specific crops.
In the Philippines, where the rising cost of fertilizers has pushed up the prices of agricultural products, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the concurrent head of the Department of Agriculture, had said they are eyeing government-to-government deals with countries like China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates for the purchase of affordable fertilizers.
But with the WB fertilizer price index rising nearly 15 percent from earlier this year, driven by high input costs, supply disruptions and trade restrictions, affordability becomes relative and government will have to do even more as far as fertilizers are concerned and scramble to find other creative ways to improve access to it, as well as consider subsidies and financing. At the same time, a campaign to encourage and institutionalize more efficient usage so its benefits and productivity can be maximized.
The Philippines is one of many countries that are net importers of fertilizer, making affordability a pipe dream. While our DA pushes the government-to-government contracts that could make that dream a reality, our government also has to find other realistic and practical solutions to this global situation that threatens the country’s unstable food security and already perilous inflation rate.*
