Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development, Leocadio Sebastian on Sunday said there is enough rice for every Filipino.

Sebastian said that the government inventory indicated that 1.4 million tons of rice are still available in warehouses across the country. These are aside from the rice harvest coming in the lean months of June and July.

He added that what the agency does now is push farmers to use ‘biofertilizers’ which are cheaper than synthetic or inorganic fertilizers.

” We want to lower their (farmers’) production cost because of the high price of synthetic fertilizers,” Sebastian said, adding that soil fertility is also becoming low, putting farmers to harvest lesser quality of palay.

This he said is due to the use of so much synthetic fertilizer.

“We’re encouraging farmers to make use of ‘balance fertilization,” he said explaining that biofertilizers are made of micro-organism that gives the soil the right nutrients for it, to be fertile.

Biofertilizers abound, according to Sebastian, with around 70 registered brands to choose from, 38 of which are good for palay and can also be bought at half of the price of synthetic fertilizers that made the soil “acidic.”

“The other biofertilizers available are good for planting fruits and vegetables,” Sebastian explained.

“We wanted to promote this biofertilizer and the so-called balanced fertilization where you mixed the organic fertilizer, biofertilizer, and the inorganic – combined. This will give back our soil fertility,” Sebastian said.