"There is an understated food shortage."
"There is an understated food shortage."
With a local and global economic slowdown that has begun in earnest, the government’s greater attention to agriculture has acquired a singular urgency.
The best way to cope with any economic crunch is to ensure that there is food on the table, when you need it, and at a price that is very reasonable.
Unfortunately, that is not the situation today in the country. Manila rice price is double that of Bangkok and Hanoi. Food in Manila is more expensive than, say, in Bangkok or Singapore. There is an understated food shortage. Local rice production is not enough. We need to import two million tons of rice a year. All because we have stagnating agriculture.
It is timely and heaven-sent that we have a new Agriculture secretary in the person of William Dar. No Filipino technocrat understands agriculture than Dar does, with an international experience to boot. He has a BS in Agricultural Education, a masters degree in Agronomy, a doctorate in horticulture, and eight honorary doctorate degrees.
After he assumed office on Aug. 5, Dar sent me a 3,550-word memo on his thinking on agriculture. Excerpts:
The country’s farming and fisheries sector is in a “critical” stage, as it has erratically grown in the past five years.
In 2014, the sector grew by 1.83 percent, slid to 0.11 percent in 2015, and inched up by 1.41 percent in 2016.
In 2017, it grew by 3.95 percent, but posted a dismal 0.56 percent growth in 2018—disappointingly below the government’s target of 4 percent.
Of the country’s total labor force of 42.78 million, 25 percent or 10.26 million are employed in the agriculture sector.
They are mostly self-employed, small, marginalized, and belong to the country’s “poorest of the poor,” according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
With the advent of climate change, Filipino farmers, fisherfolk and their household—averaging with more than six members each—are most vulnerable, thus making them less food-secure.
Rural poverty incidence remains high, at 30 percent.
Prosperity is thus non-existent in almost all agriculture households. A typical Filipino farmer earns an average of only P100,000 per year, below the poverty line of P108,000 of 2015.
Hence, increasing the low incomes of small Filipino farmers and fisherfolk could be the key to leveling up the country’s agriculture sector, starting in the remaining three years of the Duterte administration.
There is low farm productivity, lack of value-adding as well as very few alternative sources of income not related to farming and fishing.
To create non-or off-farm jobs, farm productivity should be increased coupled with value-adding, resulting in the creation of agri-related downstream industries.
A myriad of challenges can be blamed for low farmer and fisherfolk income, namely:
1. Low farm productivity
2. Lack of labor
3. Unaffordable and inaccessible credit
4. Limited use of technology
5. Limited farmland diversification
6. Undeveloped agri-manufacturing and export
7. Severe deforestation/land degradation
8. Aging farmers and fisherfolk
9. Climate change
However, leveling up the agriculture and fisheries sector presents vast opportunities for creating more jobs and generating more wealth in the countryside—thus contributing more to the country’s gross domestic product.
Agriculture accounts for about 9 percent of the country’s GDP, while 25 percent is accounted for by agro-processing and related activities.
Also, 25 percent or 10.3 million of the country’s 42.8-million workforce is in the agriculture sector.
Doubling the income of smallholder farmers and fisherfolk in five years is doable. Their sources of income should include off-farm and non-farm activities like agri-tourism.
It could be done with the use of relevant and innovative technologies, provision of affordable credit, wide adoption of economies of scale through collective action, value-adding, developing markets at the local, national and global level, sustained empowerment and skills development of farmers and fisherfolk, and provision of sustained government budget support augmented by private sector investments.
Other imperatives must be undertaken such as mechanization, development of rural infrastructure including market infrastructure, research and development, development-oriented regulatory support, and climate-smart agriculture.
The eight paradigms to level up the country’s agriculture sector:
1. Modernization must continue.
2. Industrialization of agriculture is key.
3. Promotion of exports is a necessity.
4. Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms.
5. Infrastructure development would be critical.
6. Higher budget and investment for Philippine agriculture.
7. Legislative support is needed.
8. Roadmap development is paramount.
Those paradigms make up the “new thinking” to double the income or earnings of farmers and fisher folk.
The “new thinking” should have for its vision: A food secure Philippines with prosperous farmers and fisherfolk
Further, its mission is: To collectively empower farmers and fisherfolk and the private sector to increase agricultural productivity and profitability, taking into account sustainability and resilience.
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