SANTA ROSA CITY, Laguna (March 31, 2026) – On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Francis P. Tiu Laurel Jr., accompanied by Senator Francis Pangilinan, visited the facility of Agri Specialists Inc. to highlight the Department of Agriculture’s efforts to reduce dependence on inorganic fertilizers, boost farm yields, and advance the broader goal of sustainable, food-secure agriculture.
Agri Specialists produces commmercial quantities of biofertilizer developed by researches from the University of the Philippines Los Baños’ National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. A kilo of the biofertilizer, based on company estimates, could replace two 50-kilo bags urea-based fertilizer. Each kilogram costs P750—roughly a third of the current price of around P2,500 of a single bag of complete 14-14-14 fertilizer.
Even before the US and Israel launched an airstrike on Iran on February 28—an event that sent oil prices soaring—the DA had been ramping up the use of alternatives such as liquid fertilizers, biofertilizers, and soil ameliorants to offset the rising cost of petroleum-based inputs.
Still, he emphasized that supply is not the main concern; rather, it is the upward pressure on global prices driven by logistics costs and market uncertainty.
Based on 2025 data, only about 20 percent of the country’s 713,000 metric tons of imported urea-based fertilizers were sourced directly from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The bulk came from Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, ammonium sulfate fertilizers were entirely imported from China and Japan, further reducing reliance on Middle Eastern routes. ### (Photos by Ian Leaño, DA-AFID)
