Piñol sees better days ahead for agriculture

MANILA, Philippines - After several quarters of decline, the Philippine agriculture sector, which has lagged behind its Asian neighbors in the past few years, is now turning the corner and is expected to sustain the growth momentum amid better government support.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol believes that one of the best indicators of success in President Duterte’s crucial first year in office is the 5.28 percent growth witnessed by the agricultural sector in the first quarter.

“The 5.28 percent growth is no mean feat considering that the sector is coming from a negative performance and we cannot solely claim credit for everything. If the trend continues as we are now focusing on hybridization, I am very positive that we will satisfy the rice requirement of the country inclusive of MAV (minimum access volume) by year 2020 as targeted,” Piñol told The STAR.

While Piñol does not want to compare his leadership with that of the previous administration, he thinks what sets them apart is the focus they are giving to specific concerns.

“My very clear message when I assumed this position is I would like to bring the department back to its basic mandate of food production. We have efforts to preserve our resources for bigger engagements,” he said.

“We are looking at how we can feed the Filipino people, what food they need, increasing the income of farmers and the commodities so they could make more money,” he added.

Achievements in one year

While the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is not under the helm of the DA, Piñol considers the approval of the free irrigation program as an achievement for the local farming sector.

Piñol was earlier looking to return NIA under the DA but had a change of heart.

“Before, I wanted it back for better coordination, but if in the minds of our policy makers it is better that the agency is outside the DA, then so be it. We will work on the assigned task and work on whatever resources we will have,” Piñol said.

NIA, for its part, aims to irrigate 65 percent of the 3.1 million hectares of irrigable land by 2022. With free irrigation, farmers’ cropping expenses will be lessened up to six percent of every cropping season.

“NIA is here not only for irrigation purposes, but also to provide assistance to our farmers to have a better quality of life and to be able to contribute to the government’s objective of rice sufficiency by 2020,” NIA administrator Ricardo Visaya told The STAR.

“The major areas needing extra attention is on irrigation systems development, availability of affordable and accessible credit, use of new technologies, and farm mechanization. The agriculture sector must embrace agribusiness as a major strategy and promote and develop more agripreneurs in the sector,” former agriculture secretary William Dar said.

Continuing what former Agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala had started, Pinol considers the nationwide distribution of fiber glass fishing boats to poor fishing families as another accomplishment.

The DA has so far released 4,000 boats to date and is targeting to distribute about 35,000 by the end of Duterte’s term.

“We’re not saying the previous administration did not do anything. I am a student of history, I learn lessons from the past for the good practices, I build on it, I improve it and I don’t claim credit for that,” Piñol said.

The DA also launched the National Inland Fisheries Development Program which aims to repopulate the lakes, rivers and creeks of the country with over 200 million fingerlings, and the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) which gives farmers and fisher folks access to non-collateralized credit at only six percent interest rate.

Piñol also commenced the National Colour-Coded Agriculture Guide Map which helps farmers determine crop suitability in their respective farms in order to address the gap in the sector.

Despite the achievements, Piñol said he faced challenges along the way particularly in tweaking the mindset of economists both in the private and public sector on how they should look at agriculture.

“Beyond the call centers that we set up, beyond the skyways and the subways, the greatest resource of this country and the best way in addressing rural poverty and the imbalance and inequity in the society is to really invest in agriculture in the country,” he said.

“Not many people see things this way. Their thinking is that for items that we cannot produce, we just import. But when you produce very little of the commodity that is needed by the market, there is always danger that the importers of that commodity could form a cartel and control the price and supply in the market,” Pinol explained.

Fast forward to 2022

While the agriculture sector has shown a positive outlook for the first year, Piñol said there is much more work to be done to sustain the growth of the agriculture sector and improve its contribution to the country’s economy.

“A lot of things still need to be done but as a whole, I am happy with the whole performance of the department and that the officials and employees are catching up with the paradigm shift, with the new vision of the DA,” Piñol said.

“We expect rice productivity to grow to a level where we will be able to supply the national rice requirement and increase the income of our farmers,” he added.

The DA is targeting to increase livestock production. In particular, it wants to double the cattle population to five million.

Following cartel issues, the DA is hiking its garlic and onion production to supply about 50 percent and 80 percent, respectively, of the national requirement.

“We will create a marketing network that will ensure that the farmers’ produce are delivered to the market and to the consumers with less tiers in traders,” he said.

The agency also expects a more bountiful fish harvest following the continued three-month moratorium and relentless campaign against illegal fishing.

“As long as the current administration continues its focus on enforcement and compliance to fisheries laws, this will help ensure protection of habitats and fish stocks to help the recovery of our dwindling fisheries resources. Ample resources should also be focused on research to have science-based policies to encourage compliance and to provide incentives for doing so,”said Gloria Ramos, president of non-government organization Oceana Philippines.