Solons seek study on fertilizers use

By Maricel Cruz

AGROUP of legislators on Friday asked their colleagues in the House of Representatives to look into the effect on palay harvest and farmers’ income of the over fourdecade heavy dependence by tillers on imported synthetic or petroleum-based fertilizers.

The group led by Camarines Sur Rep.

Luis Raymund Villafuerte raised the call amid a fresh government push for balanced fertilization or the combined use of both chemical and organic fertilizers.

Villafuerte was the principal pro - ponent of House Resolution (HR) 972 urging the House Committee on Agriculture to study “the effectiveness of the use of chemical fertilizers in rice production.”

“To support, through meaningful leg- islation, the direction set by President Marcos on finding alternatives to boost palay productivity, there is a need to answer: (1) whether or not chemical fertilizers like urea really cost cheaper than, if not just the same, as biofertilizers, and (2) whether or not organic inputs or biofertilizers are still untested or have been proven to significantly boost crop yields,” the authors of HR 972 said.

Other proponents of the measure were Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, Bataan Rep. Albert Raymond Garcia, and Bicol Saro Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan.

They recalled that the Department