President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of Agriculture to improve access to soil testing nationwide to respond promptly to farmers seeking guidance about the crops suitable for their land.

In a meeting with the DA at Malacañang on Tuesday, Marcos noted how the government could not help farmers on the use of fertilizer due to the lack of soil testing centers in the country.

The President said that each region should have at least one soil testing center to allow agriculturists to give timely advice to farmers about which crops are best suited for their land.

“Our country severely lacks soil analysis. We cannot tell the farmers how much fertilizer to use. We cannot give them any advice because we don’t know ourselves the condition of the soil,” Marcos said.

“That (soil mapping) actually applies to all crops,” he added.

The President, who was previously the Agriculture chief, made the remarks after the DA recommended soil mapping and agricultural liming initially in Luzon as part of the program to expand the sugar industry.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), Marcos highlighted the sacrifices made by farmers to ensure a steady food supply for Filipinos.

“Yes, it’s hard (farming) but look what they, how, what they do. If, you know, if they didn’t farm, we wouldn’t have anything to eat,” he said.

In the development of materials and the rollout strategy for the Bayani ng Pilipinas campaign, the President said they would try and formulate ideas to better promote the project.

Marcos is prioritizing the agricultural sector to uplift farmers and fisherfolk, aiming to strengthen food security in the country.

At the PSAC meeting, Marcos told the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to look into forging a partnership between agriculture cooperatives and local government units (LGUs) to strengthen the development and training of farmers.

He also asked the CDA to look into establishing partnerships with the LGUs to carry out farmers’ development and training.

“Maybe we have to come to some kind of partnership for LGUs that are in fact interested. Or the areas that we would like to organize better,” the President said. “The CDA should go to them and tell them, you know, we could do much better here and this is how we can do it with the help of the LGU.”

Between 9 May and 5 June, the government distributed P906 million in assistance to over 90,000 beneficiaries across seven regions (Regions II, V, IX, X, XI, XII and BARMM) through the Presidential Assistance to Farmers, Fisherfolk and their Families program.

Additionally, several irrigation projects have been rehabilitated or completed under the administration in support of Philippine agriculture.

As of December 2023, 2.16 million hectares, or 68.88 percent of the country’s estimated 3.13 million hectares of total irrigable land, have been developed.