The Department of Agriculture (DA) is banking on a three-year sustainability plan to improve production, mechanize operations and upskill farmers on the modern ways of farming.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel said the three-year plan would focuse on improving irrigation and upgrading port-harvest facilities.
“No major post-harvest facility was funded by government in the last 40 years. We need really to fund these projects. But we must build bigger. We have three designs—small, medium and large, not mini,” he said.
Tiu Laurel’s plan outlines a significant investment towards achieving food security in the Philippines. The focus on improved irrigation and post-harvest facilities aims to increase rice production while reducing wastage, with additional initiatives addressing vegetable losses.
While lowering rice prices to P20 per kilo remains a long-term goal, the plan highlights the challenges and ongoing efforts to ensure food security for the nation.
He said P1.2 trillion is needed to build more efficient irrigation systems and irrigate 1.2 million hectares of farmland, primarily rice fields.
Building integrated rice mill and warehouse complexes — to reduce an estimated 15 percent in losses in rice due to the lack of post-harvest facilities — will cost around P90 billion, he said.
This will help save around P10.7 billion worth of rice or an additional 23 days of rice inventory, which is equivalent to around 10 percent of rice imports based on 2023 figures.
For 2024, the government allocated P1 billion to build four cold storage facilities, primarily at the Food Terminal Inc. Complex in Taguig City, to partly address the recurrent oversupply and wastage of vegetables in parts of Luzon alone. The 5,000-pallet position cold storage facility in FTI will take at least 12 months to complete.
Transporting vegetables from Benguet to Metro Manila, according to traders, result in 30-percent losses that are eventually passed on to consumers.
“If we try to solve the problem as soon as possible, assuming a target of 2025, I need an additional P5 billion to address the vegetable cold-storage issue of the whole nation,” he said.
While acknowledging the role of local government units (LGUs) in managing agricultural issues, Tiu Laurel reiterated the DA’s commitment to helping LGUs resolve these challenges.
