Making farms productive

Most of our farms are not reaching their productive potential.

But if we are to achieve inclusive growth, then we must take note of what Dr. Rolando Dy said in his July 13 article in the Inquirer.

He said that alleviating rural poverty is not only about farming, but also about having productive farms.

Last year, during the birthday of Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) chair Manuel Pangilinan, KDF and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) signed an agreement to plant one million trees in Pampanga within five years.

Today, a forum is being held to give additional impetus to this agreement. Participants from all over Central Luzon will receive valuable technology and other inputs to make coconut farms productive.

Most of our coconut farms yield an annual net income of only P20,000 a hectare. The objective of this forum is to help ensure that the farms to be planted with coconut trees will yield as much as P250,000 per hectare.

Intercropping crops like coffee or cacao can yield an additional P80,000, while supplementing these crops with multi-story intercropping of papaya, pineapple and banana will add another P65,000.

Processing the coconut into coconut oil and food is still an additional P100,000.

Broader perspective

If we look at Central Luzon (Region 3), we see relatively few coconut trees. Where they exist, there is very little intercropping and hardly any high-value processing.

Furthermore, there are many lands with a slope of more than 18 degrees, thus exempting them from land reform.

Considering that two of our three million coconut hectares have no intercropping, and given the many lands with more than an 18-degree slope, it is a tragedy that not much is being done to take advantage of this potential.

Over the last 12 months, the Alyansa Agrikultura has partnered with KDF for the one million coconut tree cum intercropping project. People who wish to participate and get the PCA-provided coconut seedlings cover a wide range: from small farmers who can plant coconut trees in their backyard to large landowners exempted from land reform who have idle land. With this tremendous response, government should give initiatives like this full support.

Government budget

Last July 2, when we participated in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) discussion on the proposed 2016 national budget, Code NGO Executive Director Sixto Donato Macasaet asked why the 2015

P4.1 billion-PCA budget was being reduced to only P1.3 billion in 2016.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said that since PCA still had P7 billion in used funds, PCA’s lack of absorptive capacity was the reason for the decrease.

However, when we talked to a PCA official about this, he said the PCA would consume all of its available funds by the end of the year.

Consequently, P1.3 billion for 2016 is definitely inadequate to support coconut farmers.

There is also a significant procedural problem. This same official said that when a project is not proceeding at the expected pace on a national level, funds are withheld from all the regions.

While it is correct to withhold funds because of lack of absorptive capacity, this should not be looked at only at the national level, while ignoring regional differences.

Since the launching of the one million coconut tree cum intercropping project in Region 3 which has caused a great need for supporting funds, PCA regional fund release for certain projects has been hampered.

If we are to make farms productive, DBM should relax this national guideline and apply selective fund releases on a regional performance basis.

This way, the progressive regions are not penalized by the deficient ones.

Coconut farm priority

As Dy said, productive farms can alleviate rural poverty. Government should give priority to coconut farms and farmers.

The PCA should focus not only on coconut, but also on coconut farmers. They comprise the largest agriculture sector in our country. And they are also the poorest.

And they will remain poor if we follow the normal practice of growing coconut for copra, leaving the land between the coconut trees idle.

Congress should give PCA much more than the P1.3 billion for 2016 recommended by DBM, provided PCA shows a credible and effective way to spend its P7-billion budget this year.

DBM should also reward the performance of effective regions by releasing more funds to them, instead of penalizing them by holding the release of their funds when the national average for a program falls below expectations.

As Asean integration becomes fully operational this December, we must help make our farmers more competitive. Since other Asean countries are providing their farmers a higher subsidy, our government must choose wisely which priority sectors it should support.

For inclusive growth, agriculture is the obvious choice.

And in agriculture, making coconut farms and the farmers productive should be given high priority.

(The author is chair of Agriwatch, former Secretary for Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects, and former Undersecretary for Agriculture, Trade and Industry. For inquiries and suggestions, email [email protected] or telefax (02) 8522112).