SINCE THE WAR in Iran erupted in late February, the Department of Agriculture is already over-hyping the expected impact of the war on food supply with the expected soaring of chemical fertilizers, a vital soil input to enhance productivity and yield.
The DA keeps depending on more imports of chemical fertilizers (urea and DAP or diammonium phosphate) when we have local capacity to produce commercially biofertilizers that can revive and enhance the soil and jack up productivity faster than any of these dreadful and toxic substances that we put in our soil and inevitably eat in crops and livestock and fisheries.
DA Undersecretary for Planning Asis Perez projects the impact of the Iran war on our food supplies at P75 billion for rice, corn and fisheries “if nothing is done to mitigate the impact of the global oil crisis.”
“With the persistent disruption in the Persian Gulf that has jacked up global oil prices, the agency also expects rice and corn output to plunge by as much as 50 percent this year,” Perez told Business Mirror.
“The value that we’re projecting to lose—assuming we don’t do anything, the cost of inaction—for three major [sectors] alone, including rice, corn, and fisheries is already P75 billion,” the official said during a Senate hearing of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on Wednesday.
So here’s the catch: we need to import more rice, corn and other food crops.
CAST DOWN
Considering that we are now in the planting season, such a pronouncement would only discourage the farmers more– as they are already reeling from the effects of high oil prices, inflation and low wages.
He noted that palay planted between May and June would be affected by the crisis, the yield of which will be harvested by September.
Based on the agency’s initial projection, the “best-case scenario” is for the minimum volume of losses due to the crisis to stand at 20 percent.
“It can even go up to a 50-percent decline in productivity, because farmers can’t do anything if there’s no fertilizer.”
Perez said this translates to 2 million metric tons (MMT) of palay, adding that the projection also mirrors that of corn production. The DA is expecting palay production to settle at 20.3 MMT in 2026.
“The good thing about what we’re doing is we’re anticipating a catastrophe that’s about to happen assuming we don’t act.”
The DA has issued several interventions as part of efforts to cushion the impact of rising fertilizer and pump prices on the farm sector. Among them, P100 million fuel assistance, with 14,439 farmers and 15,669 fisherfolk receiving P5,000 and P3,000 each, respectively.
The DA is also tapping the P10-billion Presidential Assistance to Farmers and Fisherfolk Program (PAFFP) under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) set to benefit over 4 million in the sector worth P2,325 each.
AMPLE SUPPLY
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. assured the public that for now, the country’s fertilizer supply remains ample until year end if inorganic fertilizer is blended with biofertilizer.
“As of the moment, the arrival of fertilizer is continuous. The only problem is the price,” Tiu Laurel said during the 2026 national food fair in Mandaluyong City.
“If we combine (chemical) fertilizer with inorganic fertilizer then we have enough [supply] for the whole year if we use them as a blend.”
The DA said the country’s stockpile of the critical farm input stood at 8.11 million bags or 405,637.49 metric tons (MT) as of April 1 across six major fertilizer grades. This includes urea, ammonium sulfate, complete fertilizer, ammonium phosphate, muriate of potash, and DAP.