“Prompting people participation and ensuring sustainable development through sound policy recommendations are key factors that we can embrace to maintain a functional and holistic approach in dealing with the sector’s challenges”
The Department of Agriculture (DA) can easily be considered as one of the country’s most important government agencies as its main function is directly related to keeping the food supply sustainable and affordable for the country’s 118 million people.
The DA, during several administrations, has promoted the wider use of modern technology and science- based approach in agriculture but this has only achieved minimal success.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said a whole-of-nation approach is needed to modernize the country’s farm and fisheries sectors.
Laurel is also seeking the help of the private sector in this endeavor.
Laurel said the Philippines needs to invest at least P1.3 trillion over the next few years to boost rice production, reduce wastage of agricultural products and ensure the country’s food security.
Laurel said irrigating 1.2 million of farm lands planted to rice alone would require P1.2 trillion in capital spending while another P90 billion is needed to build integrated rice mill and warehouse complexes to reduce an estimated 15 percent in losses in rice due to the lack of post-harvest facilities.
At the Congressional hearing on his appointment last month, Laurel said that agriculture faces numerous challenges which the DA needs to immediately resolve, among others, high food prices, low food production, broken food supply chains, and lack of irrigation, cold storage, credit and other key inputs. These challenges, he said, are aggravated by the effects of global issues such as climate change and geopolitical disruptions.
Under his watch, Laurel vowed that the DA would rely on science and market data to ensure timely interventions in modernizing agriculture for food security and sufficiency, as well as sustainability.
In a separate speaking engagement, Laurel also highlighted the need for the private sector to cooperate in formulating national policies and programs that would fast-track the modernization of the sector.
“Prompting people participation and ensuring sustainable development through sound policy recommendations are key factors that we can embrace to maintain a functional and holistic approach in dealing with the sector’s challenges,” Laurel said.
Recent partnerships between the government and the private sector addressed the onion crisis. This led to the issuance of a special order creating a technical working group that will implement Metrobank Foundation Inc.’s P25 million pledge to establish an onion cold storage facility in the country.
According to DA, the construction of additional cold storage facilities focused on onions will help ensure the availability of the local supply year round to avoid price spikes during offseason and wastage during the harvest season.
The agency, together with the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization and the Korea International Cooperation Agency, recently launched the country’s first Agricultural Machinery Design and Prototyping Center in Nueva Ecija.
The facility is seen to accelerate the country’s mechanization by enhancing local capability to design, develop and manufacture agricultural machinery and prototypes.
The DA also recently partnered with the World Bank for the kick-off of three core projects namely the Philippine Rural Development Project Scale-Up, the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project and the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project.
These initiatives are expected to address the constraints in the value chain by establishing infrastructure that address logistical problems and distribution in rural communities; strengthen fishery management and law enforcement to recover the fish stocks and reduce over fishing; and improve indigenous peoples’ living conditions, through sustainable agri-fishery based economic activities.
