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

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

The President added 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 fertilizers to use. We cannot give them any advice because we don’t know ourselves what the condition of the soil is,” Marcos said. “That (soil mapping) actually applies to all crops.”

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

In a different 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,” the President said.