Photo Release

Villar advances local production of organic fertilizer: Sen. Cynthia A. Villar reiterates her advocacy for the use of organic fertilizer during the continuation of the Finance Subcommittee B hearing on the proposed P167.458 billion budget of the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies. Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, opposed the P10 billion allocation for the importation of chemical fertilizer, citing its harmful effects to the soil which is already 38 percent degraded. “Importation is only temporary. We use that to cover our shortage, but the permanent solution is to produce our own,” Villar said Tuesday, October 17, 2023. She related that in her hometown of Las Piñas, she established 89 composting facilities converting kitchen and garden wastes into organic fertilizer. The monthly production of 89 tons of organic fertilizer were distributed for free to farmers and urban gardeners. (Joseph B. Vidal/ Senate PRIB)