Government asked to regulate chemical inputs in farms

DAVAO CITY—The Mindanao Fruit Industry Council (MinFruit) here has asked Malacañang to devise a policy that would approximate the generic drugs law in procuring agricultural chemical inputs to bring their prices sharply down and make agricultural products more affordable for consumers.

MinFruit has also asked government regulators “to police the activities of the private applicators of pesticides and other chemical inputs” to ensure the health and safety standards among agriculture products.

Antonio B. Partoza Jr., president of MinFruit, said that chemical inputs constitute 70 percent of the production cost in the farms, citing “the impact on prices of farm products if we get the same price reduction in medicines when the Generic Drugs Act was passed.”

Like branded medicines, branded chemical inputs have also a production of their generic version, also in India and in Thailand.  The proposal would ask the government to designate a government agency or body to take charge of the importation of the chemicals.

Three or four years ago, for instance, Partoza said the chemical Coltar, which induces trees to flower, the early stage of fruiting, would cost about 250 Thai baht, or approximately more than P300 at that time. “In the Philippines, that time also, this chemical was already priced P5,000.”

“Imagine the huge savings for agriculture if we can force the industry to offer in large quantities these generic versions of the pesticides, fertilizers and other chemical input, and more savings still if these are purchased in bulk quantities,” Partoza told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday last week.

Partoza said MinFruit has already drafted a petition letter containing this proposal and which the group would present to Agriculture Secretary Proceso V. Alcala during the First Mindanao Fruit Industry Conference on Sept. 23 and 24 at the Molave Hotel in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

He said Secretary Alcala has been informed beforehand about the proposal and that he expressed his desire to see the contents and details of the proposal.

Ednar Carlos Dayanghirang, former president of the Davao Region Mango Contractors Association (Daremca), said the proposal for a generic chemical legislation was already adapted in the National Mango Congress in November 2007, which was attended by Agriculture Undersecretary Salvador S. Salacup.

“[Cavite] Rep. [Jesus Crispin] Remulla was also there and he promised to bring the matter up with the agriculture committee in the House,” Dayanghirang told the regular business forum at the Marco Polo Hotel here on Wednesday last week.

He said the price of the chemicals was a major issue for Mindanao mango growers “because we have been producing the fruit during the off-season,” meaning during the rainy season when planters in Luzon and the Visayas would be resting their trees for the next harvest in the dry season.

“When you produce during the off-season, that means that you have to brave the rains which are usually destructive for trees during flowering,” he said.

The trees normally bear fruit shortly before summer, but to induce fruiting, one has to apply chemicals.

“That means a lot of cost to buy these chemicals,” he said.

Partoza said the issue was less pressing in Luzon and in the Visayas where they produce under normal production cycle of the fruit.

“But we are actually talking about the affordability of the chemicals for the entire agriculture industry, whether in fruit of whatever kinds and in vegetables,” Partoza said.

He said this was the kind of public policy that his organization would like to influence.

Meanwhile, MinFruit plans to also appeal to government regulators, such as the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority and the Department of Agriculture to “regulate and police the activity of private contractors who were also conducting spraying of chemicals in fruit farms, such as mango.”

“In mango, for example, there is an unwritten understanding upon the contractor-growers and farm developers on one hand, and the planters and landowners on the other hand, that the contractors already know and are abiding with the standards of chemical mix when they apply chemicals on fruit-bearing trees,” Partoza said.

However, the unguarded aggressiveness of some contractors to make stronger formulation and ensure better-looking fruits and hoping to attract foreign buyers compromise the quality and reputation of Filipino growers in countries with strict phytosanitary requirements such as Japan.

“There are repeated complaints that some shipments have been rejected by Japan because of traces of chemical residues,” he said.  “We want to raise this issue as a matter of health and safety concern in Philippine agriculture.”

Dayanghirang said he was amenable to the suggestion, but said he had no more voice in the Daremca after he left the organization in 2007. –Manuel T. Cayon / Reporter, Businessmirror