FPA Recounts 2021 Milestones in its Year-End Review

Written by Information Section  l   Published: 17 December 2021

December 17, 2021 | Quezon City. The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) held its Year-End Performance Review on December 14 to 16 at the FPA Central Office Convention Hall, BAI compound, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

The activity was spearheaded by the Planning, Management, and Information Division (PMID). It enabled the different Divisions and Field Units (FUs) to present their physical and financial accomplishments for 2021 as well as their best practices.  Issues and concerns were also discussed during the activity.

FUs Physical and Financial Performance

For the period, the FUs were able to license a total of 4,665 handlers out of their 4,022 annual targets, equivalent to 116% accomplishment (Table 1).  The highest contributory is Region 11 with 572 issuances, followed by Region 10 with 452.

For January to November, the FUs monitored/visited 21,616 handlers/establishments or 123% of their total target of 17,562.  Likewise, a total of 160,347 fertilizer and pesticide (F/P) products were inspected, accomplishing 153% of their 104,820 target. The FUs with the highest contribution in the physical accomplishment are Region 3 for the monitoring of handlers and Region 2 for product monitoring.

In relation to their financial performance, the FUs were able to utilize a total of Php16.6M from their allocated budget of Php19.6M, indicating a budget utilization rate (BUR) of 84%.  An increase in the utilization rate will be achieved once the claims for travelling expenses from October to December were obligated.  As shown in Table 2, Region 6 is the highest spender with 107% BUR while CAR is the lowest with only 60% BUR.

Table 1. Details of Physical Performance, Field Units

Table 2. Details of Financial Performance, Field Units

Divisions’ Physical and Financial Performance

Fertilizer Regulations Division (FRD)

The FRD achieved 114% for its regulatory documents issuances for the period of January to November (Table 3). With an annual target of 3,495, it was able to issue a total of 3,979 regulatory documents.  However, its financial performance is 67%, utilizing only Pph0.66M out of Php0.97M budget allocation.

Pesticide Regulations Division (PRD)

The PRD, on the other hand, issued a total of 6,438 regulatory documents or 135% accomplishment over its 4,756 target (Table 3).  Budget utilization is Php1.12M out of Php1.49M allocation or 75% BUR.

Table 3. Details of Physical Performance, FRD and PRD 

Laboratory Services Division (LSD)

The LSD analyzes F/P samples to support the product registration and quality monitoring function of FPA.  For the period, it was able to analyze a total of 961 F/P samples or 102% overall accomplishment out of 945 samples targeted (Table 4).  For its financial performance, LSD’s utilization of Php1.3M exceeded its budget of P1.2M, thereby incurring 108% BUR.

Table 4. Details of Physical Performance, LSD

Planning, Management & Information Division (PMID)

The PMID is able to accredit 3,989 individuals as Accredited Safety Dispenser (ASD), Accredited Responsible Care Officer (ARCO), Certified Pesticide Applicator (CPA) and F/P Researchers.  This is equivalent to 135% accomplishment of its yearly target of 2,942.  Its major accomplishments include the conduct of the webinars, planning and performance reviews, compliance with the reportorial requirements on time, response to inquiries and grievances, IT support and data management, publications and social media management.  For its financial accomplishment, it achieved a BUR of 88%, utilizing Php2M out of its Php2.3M budget allocation.

Finance & Administrative Division (FAD)

The FAD with its Human Resource, General Services, Budget and Accounting Sections were able to process 3,344 vouchers, which is 111% accomplishment out of its 3,000 annual target.  Some of its major accomplishments include the issuance of 26 appointments and 226 contracts of service, inventory of equipment, vehicle dispatching and maintenance, procurement, hiring, collection and records management.  It has a BUR of 88%, utilizing Php135.5M out of Php156M budget.

Other Matters

Tackling the issue on fertilizer price hike, Dr. Myer Mula, Deputy Executive Director for Fertilizer, emphasized that FPA is not an importer and producer, and have no control over the prices. He directed FPA officials to refer to the published article about the issue.

Dr. Mula added that all divisions and units should revisit their way of planning, programming and targeting activities. Moving forward, he recommended the following:

• Improvement of physical target indicators
• Alignment of physical accomplishments with financial accomplishments
• Activation of email and social media accounts by the Field Units
• Regular visitation of handlers and dealers in monitoring

To provide credible and efficient service as an ISO-certified agency, Dr. Mula challenged FPA employees to be prompt and exemplify commitment to their work.

Towards the end of the activity, the IT Team requested for feedback from the regions regarding the mobile application for product registration developed to further enhance the system.  In relation to this, the team announced the distribution of two tablets per region in 2022 (first batch) and the rest in 2023 and 2024.    The team also discussed the accreditation system currently being developed, which eventually be rolled out to the regions.  The features of the new website was also presented to the participants.