Saddled with shortages from production, supply chain, marketing, irrigation and prices (of farm inputs, retail and farmgate) all of which lead to spiking food inflation, the agriculture sector needs a magician and “miracle worker” to save the sector from its looming demise.
It takes no less than the Chief Executive of the land—with the able help of technocrats and practicing farm experts (not theoreticians) to segregate and later merge the myriad of problems with possible solutions (not palliatives or short-term band-aid measures).
But to do this there must be a clear definition of what we want as a nation (is it food sufficiency just for now or for always), is it just to lower prices (through boom-bust cycles) and how much resources are we willing to sink into the sector for it to stay afloat for our lifetimes.
For one, Marcos Jr. committed himself to address the numerous gaps in the sector and with his position, as Chief Executive, he can order the tsunami of funds to be given to agriculture, once and for all. But he can’t do it alone, he must have all hands, brains, brawns, funds, machines and infrastructure.
And we are not just talking about rice (the price of which Marcos Jr. wants reduced to P20 a kilo which he committed during his campaign). We must tackle all sorts of crops—sugar, pineapple, vegetables, corn, rootcrops, high yielding and high value crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture. In short, we are talking about land, sea and air and all that breathes in them.
And he must also determine if we would adopt inward-looking trading approach—just buy from local farmers and fishers instead of importing what we need and if such approach would last for his entire term.
High priority for agri
Last Monday, Marcos Jr. announced he was taking the added role of DA Secretary on June 30 and put the agriculture sector in ‘high priority.”
“We’re going back to basics … and we will rebuild the value chain of agriculture. That is why I thought it is important that the President take that portfolio,” he told a briefing at his Mandaluyong campaign HQ.
Marcos Jr. must scramble for urgent solutions to the declining local production of rice, as some farmers have been unable to use as much fertilizer to boost their farms’ yield (with fertilizer prices having tripled as of May to P3,000 per 50-kilo bag of urea from just P1,200 last year with the surging petrol prices).
Smuggling of agri products
Then, too, he must address urgent concerns of rampant smuggling of agricultural products and the massive importation of key commodities, from rice to meat and fish. These have discouraged local farmers from increasing their output, making the Philippines even more vulnerable to global disruptions in the food chain and volatile import prices.
Farm and producers’ groups are hopeful that he can make good his promise to increase food production, “counteract” the unabated increase in the prices of food, and “reorganize” the bureaucracy to make the DA “retooled” for the post-pandemic world.
The incoming president has been “bothered” and “disgusted” at the corruption in the DA and the Bureau of Customs, which have both been at the center of an investigation on the rampant smuggling of agricultural products.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) Executive Director Jayson Cainglet said he believes that only the President-elect can jumpstart the gargantuan task of rehabilitating local agriculture from the carnage created by those at the helm of DA the past years.
Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said Marcos Jr. could revisit and revive the Masagana 99, Kadiwa stores, Food Terminal Inc., and other programs implemented by Marcos Sr.
Back when he was a member of the Senate committee on agriculture and food in 2015, Marcos Jr. flagged the government’s “import-oriented policy” on agricultural products and neglect of the sector. This, he added, had led to the runaway prices of food in the market.
Agriculture contributes about a tenth to the gross domestic product (GDP) and a fourth of jobs in the country. Output shrank annually by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, as fisheries, livestock and crop production declined.
Marcos said he would focus on boosting food production amid rising food protectionism around the world.
“You may have noted that Thailand and Vietnam, for example, one of our main sources of imported rice, have decided to ban their rice exports at least for now. We have to compensate for that by hopefully increasing production here in the Philippines,” he said.
Marcos said it’s important for the president to take over the DA “so things can move quickly” in response to global developments.
“We have to plan in a more thorough fashion instead of just responding. I have asked DTI, NEDA, DoF and DBM to start to make economic forecasts on what it is we think we have to face for the rest of this year so we can prepare… There may be some emergency situations especially in regard to food supply,” he said.
“There are many priorities that we have to attend to simultaneously, first of all will be try to increase production as we come to the planting period, the harvest period after the rainy season, during, before, and after the rainy season. Hopefully, we can counteract some of the increases in prices,” he added.
The President-elect announced Monday that he would assume the DA portfolio because of the severity of the problem that the country would face with the looming food crisis and the continued increase in food prices. “Furthermore, it is in response to the events in Ukraine which has affected the Philippines’s agriculture and including the food supply in a very serious way.”
Another priority Marcos cited is the restructuring of the DA, though it would be a long-term process, to make it more responsive to the current global situation in terms of food supply.
He added this would include the return of agencies and organizations under the department, such as the National Food Authority (NFA), the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), and Kadiwa, among others to their original mandates and functions.
“As I have mentioned many times before, many of the agencies have changed their functions over the years and maybe it’s time to return them. I talked about the organizations like the NFA, the FTI, and the Kadiwa, which we already have started to see especially at the local level but we have to structure the actual department so as to be more responsive to the global situation now when it comes to food supply,” the incoming President said.
Rice Tariffication Law
In line with the programs he discussed with his economic managers, Marcos said there may be a need to review the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund created by Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law.
“Well if there is one part of the rice tariffication, it is the area wherein we reinvest the amount of funding that we reinvest into for our farmers, and mechanization, and post-harvest facilities. Which is part of the rice tariffication, there’s P10 billion that is returned to the farming community,” he replied when asked what part of the law will be reviewed, which was one of his pronouncements during the campaign.
Section 13 of RA11203, which took effect last March 5, 2019, provides that a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund will be created with an annual appropriation of P10 billion for the next six years following the approval of the law.
The said fund will be used for programs, which will be implemented in rice-producing areas, such as procurement of rice farm machineries like tillers, tractors, seeders, threshers, rice planters, harvesters, irrigation pumps, small solar irrigation, reapers, driers, millers, and others. Other programs also provided for under the said section of the law are rice seed development, propagation, and promotion; expanded rice credit assistance; and rice extension services.