Despite criticism over its national fertilizer program, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reiterated on Wednesday that it was pursuing a “transparent” procurement process, insisting that the fertilizers it was securing were not overpriced and that prices were based on “scientific” data.

Agriculture officials said this during the 31st Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) meeting for the supply and delivery of urea fertilizer under the Rice Resiliency Project, an P8.5-billion program aimed at increasing the country’s rice self-sufficiency to 93 percent amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.