Mayors play big role in raising farmer incomes

Mayors, not the Department of Agriculture (DA), are primarily responsible for raising farmer incomes.

This is because the Local Government Code transferred this responsibility from the DA to the Local Government Units (LGUs). Besides, the mayors know their constituents better than the DA.

However, there is an obstacle to making this concept a full reality.  Mayor Edna Tabanda of La Trinidad, Benguet says: “DA has devolved the agricultural development responsibility to the LGUs, but not the DA budget. This amounts to P65 billion this year.  Even though there is a lot of money, how can we then fully implement our mandate when we lack the influence on how this is spent?”

We recommend a solution, though in this case, only a partial one. DA can issue a strict policy for its satellite offices to inform the mayor whenever it releases money to the mayor’s municipality. It should also ask the LGU for suggestions on how this money can be best spent. While this is happening in some municipalities, it is sadly not happening in most.

In an earlier commentary, we recommended that DA commodity programs should shift from emphasizing commodity production to focusing on the commodity farmer and his income. For example, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) should not only look at coconut production, but also the coconut farmer’s income.

To get out of his poverty, the coconut farmer needs additional income from other non-coconut products.

Examples are intercropped coffee or cacao which will add another P100,000 to the measly annual P20,000 income per hectare, and honey bee production which will add an extra P50,000. Similarly, the DA rice program should include other activities such as mushroom growing and vermiculture as well as mungbean planting between the two harvest seasons. This will potentially add P225,000 to his annual P50,000-P60,000 net income, which is well below the P80,000 poverty threshold.

What then is the mayor’s role in these programs, which are largely designed at the DA head office in Quezon City? Since all DA activities in a community should be made known to the mayor, he should actively participate in these programs. He should know how a farmer’s income increases or decreases. This can be done through a random sampling approach undertaken by the DA, the municipality, or the private sector.  The mayor can then emphasize to the DA the need for understanding and increasing farmer incomes.

To bring this down to the municipal level, a project advocated by some mayors is a “big brother-small brother” approach. The mayor should mandate each of the agricultural extension workers (who are now totally devolved from the DA to the municipality) to look for a farmer with high income (big brother) who can help a similarly situated farmer with low income (small brother). With the help of the extension worker, the mayor, and the DA through its budget, this big brother can embark on a concrete program to raise the small brother’s farm income.

The DA should launch a nationwide contest to award the best big brother-small brother project as measured by the small brother’s increased income. This should be done at the municipal, provincial, regional and national levels. Awards, and more importantly advocacy programs, can focus on the winners who will serve as models for others in their respective communities to follow.

There are four benefits from this project. First, the DA will be required to work closely with the LGUs, thus strengthening the link that is sorely lacking today between the DA and the LGU. Second, the emphasis will no longer be on the commodity, but on the commodity farmer, and his or her income. Third, a multi-product and multiactivity approach using the agribusiness system will replace the commodity production approach. Fourth, the increased small farmer income approach will be a concrete step to achieving inclusive growth. It is the small farmers who have been most excluded from the country’s economic growth.

There must be a significant change in the way DA relates with the LGUs today. Though DA cannot devolve all of its P65-billion budget to the LGUs, DA must allow the LGU to fulfill its mandated role of being primarily responsible for agricultural development.

The big brother-small brother project recommended here will be a small step in helping make this happen. The DA-LGU relationship should continue to grow. Only then can the mayors be successful in fulfilling their major responsibility of raising farmer incomes.

(The author is chair of Agriwatch and former undersecretary for agriculture, trade and industry. For inquiries and suggestions, e-mail [email protected] or telefax (02) 8522112.)