Kadiwa growth among President Marcos achievements – DA exec

MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 1:02 p.m., July 2) — The increase in the number of Kadiwa centers is among the achievements of President Marcos during his first year as Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary, a ranking official said.

At the Laging Handa press briefing yestrday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista noted that from 200 Kadiwa outlets, Marcos was able to increase the stores offering affordable farm products to 627.

“Definitely, there are more areas now with Kadiwa. We believe that the decision of the President to remain as secretary of the department was a big factor as it increased the interest of the local government units to allow the operation of Kadiwa in their respective areas,” Evangelista said.

She added that efforts are still being done to further strengthen the operation of Kadiwa stores in the country.At the same time, Evangelista added that during the stint of Marcos at the DA, the smuggling of various agricultural products was also addressed.

“We know that our stakeholders are affected by the smuggling. We were able to file cases and, hopefully, we can keep doing this, together with the inspectorate team and adjudication,” she added.

Evangelista said that the DA will also implement various programs to improve production and attain the target of food security and rice sufficiency.

“We are fixing the value chain. We are looking into the distribution system and all the interventions should be there to capacitate our farmers to take on more roles. By doing so, we not only increase production but the affordability of agricultural commodities will be addressed,” she said.

For his part, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. president Danilo Fausto gave Marcos an incomplete grade.

“Incomplete! However, it is understandable as we recover from decades of neglect. Looking forward to consider PBBM’s term as the golden age of Philippine agriculture,” Fausto said in a text message to The STAR.

Marcos has said he is resigned to being graded “incomplete” for his achievement as agriculture chief but emphasized fulfilling his campaign promises “is a work in progress.”

Farmers’ groups yesterday gave President Marcos varying grades after a year in office as DA secretary, ranging from a “failing grade of 5” to a “passing score of 7.5.”

Rice watchdog group Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said that Marcos failed to address the food crisis in the country.

“We are giving him a failing mark of five. He did not do anything to address the food crisis. The government was totally dependent on importation to address the shortage in the local production, particularly onions, sugar, meat, fish and rice,” Estavillo told The STAR.

Marcos marked his first anniversary in office on June 30.

“Under his leadership (at the DA), there was a spike in the retail price of onions, sugar and rice,” she added.

The retail price of onions reached as high as P720 per kilo in December 2022 amid the shortage in supply.

In August 2022, the retail prices of sugar started to increase and until now, the sweeteners are sold as high as P110 in the markets.

On the other hand, retail prices of rice increased to P40 per kilo and farmers’ groups said the upward trend in the cost of the staple food will persist as the stocks are already in the hands of traders.

“There is no clear solution on how to strengthen local production… The promise of P20 (per kilo) is a big lie as the retail price of the rice is now doubled,” Estavillo said.

She said the government should junk the implementation of Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law amid the flooding of imported rice in the country.

“We continue to call for the passage of the food security bill or the Rice Industry Development Act or House Bill 405. And House Bill 1161 or the (proposed) Genuine Agrarian Reform bill, allowing the free distribution of lands to the farmers,” Estavillo added.

According to her, Marcos should also order the P15,000 support subsidy to farmers.

Estavillo said Marcos should also sign an executive order to stop land conversion.

“At least 10 percent of the national budget should be allotted to agriculture as a subsidy for production. The food security will not be attained as long as President Marcos is still the concurrent DA secretary,” she said.

For his part, farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) executive director Jayson Cainglet gave Marcos a passing grade of 7.5, but said that his biggest problem after winning the presidency is the disheartened outlook and lack of enthusiasm of local producers to continue farming and raising livestock.

“The agriculture sector was neglected for the past 20 to 25 years, especially the last six years. By choosing to be the concurrent secretary of agriculture, he set the right policy direction that this government is giving special attention to the agriculture sector,” Cainglet told The STAR.

He said the local farm sector was given renewed hope under the leadership of Marcos.

“To be fair, some key officials at the DA have worked with the local agriculture industry at the height of the onion price spike in raiding warehouses, cold storages and alerting the Bureau of Customs of suspected smuggled onions. Onion farmers are happy with higher farmgate prices,” Cainglet added.

The SINAG official said the biggest challenge of the local agriculture industry is the false assumptions of economic managers that the solution to high retail prices is more imports and further lowering of tariffs.

“They refuse to accept the fact that local producers have nothing to do with high retail prices. Because of the flooding of imports and decrease in the tariff on pork, chicken and rice in the last four years, it never translated to lower prices,” Cainglet said.

According to him, while the marching orders of Marcos were clear, the DA failed to implement his directives.

Cainglet said among those gains of farmers under the Marcos administration were the high farmgate prices of onions and palay.

“The farmgate price of palay ranged between P22 and P24, compared to P16 and P18 in 2021 and early 2022. The farmgate price of onions also increased between P50 and P80 this year compared to P15 and P30 in early 2022,” he added.

Meanwhile, about 200 individuals from several militant groups who marched yesterday from the University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila to Mendiola, have described the Marcos presidency as “palpak, pahirap at pasista (a failure, oppressive and fascist.)”

Militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that one year in, the administration has not given significant improvement to the fishing sector.

“The fishermen continue to be the hardest-hit sector under the current administration. Marcos has maintained policies, programs and projects that are not beneficial and harmful to fishermen, such as the conversion of fishing grounds and coastlines,” Ronnel Arambulo, Pamalakaya vice chairman said in Filipino.

“Currently, there are around 187 reclamation projects nationwide, according to data from the Philippine Reclamation Authority. Marcos turns a deaf ear to the strong and continuous calls of the fishermen against these projects,” he added. — Elizabeth Marcelo, Ralph Edwin Villanueva

(Editor's note: This story has been edited to reflect that SINAG gave Marcos Jr. "a passing grade of 7.5" and not "75" as earlier reported in an earlier version)