Agriculture sector in need of meaningful reforms
Disasters, both natural and man-made, crippled the agriculture sector this year.
On one hand, typhoons ravaged agricultural crops worth billions of pesos. On the other, local producers and importers waged for profit.
In the first nine months of the year, the farm sector grew by only 0.15 percent. This pales in comparison to the growth rate in the same period last year of 4.59 percent.
For this year, the Department of Agriculture had targeted an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent, while economic managers had asked the agency to at least maintain a growth rate of 2 percent yearly.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol blamed the dismal performance of the sector on natural disasters. The country has been hit by 19 typhoons so far this year, the strongest of which was “Ompong.”
Typhoon “Ompong” (Mangkhut), alone, according to the agriculture department, caused P26.7 billion in damage to the agricultural sector.
It tore through Northern Luzon, the country’s major rice-producing area, and dragged down the sector’s overall growth for the year.
“We always factor in typhoons in our planning, [but] we were hit by the second strongest typhoon in the country,” Piñol said.
Even Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia highlighted the risks of climate change to the country’s food production. Agriculture accounted for 31.5 percent of the labor force in the country, and is the primary source of raw materials for manufacturing and services.
“Climate change is only about to get worse with recent rapid increases in temperature. If we do nothing, this will impede our target of increasing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security,” he said.
In the fisheries sector alone, production declined steadily in the last five years because of unfavorable weather conditions.
Fishermen refuse to go out at sea when there is heavy rainfall for fear of unpredictable waves and tides.
“We expected a negative turnout this year,” Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources chief Ed Gongona said. “You cannot expect fishermen to go into the seas with typhoons entering the country left and right.”
For the first nine months of the year, the country’s fisheries production was at 3.10 million metric tons (MT), government data showed. To surpass last year’s output of 4.31 million MT, the sector has to amp up its production in the last quarter by 1.21 million MT.
Due to the sector’s vulnerability to climate change, Gongona said they were now slowly shifting to aquaculture. Despite budget constraints, the agency was able to distribute boats and quality fingerlings and feeds, although at a modest pace.
Both the crops and fisheries sub-sectors were faulted for pulling down the country’s farm sector growth for the year.
The entry of stronger typhoons in the country had also prompted the DA to readjust the sector’s planting calendar.
The agency decided to move the harvest season in Northern Luzon to August from September.
“While historically, typhoons would hit Northern Luzon in November to December of every year, there has been a pattern over the last three years when storms started coming in as early as September,” the secretary said.
“Under the new planting calendar, the NIA (National Irrigation Administration) must open irrigation canals as early as April and May to allow farmers to sow early and harvest before September,” he added.
“Here in the DA, we understand the seasonality of agriculture and vulnerability to weather disturbances [that’s why] we’re adjusting the planting calendar,” he said. “We can only pray.”
To ensure food security and keep prices of food items in the market in check, President Duterte decided to ease importation rules to allow more food products to enter the country.
That development came after the country’s inflation rate hit 6.7 percent, the highest in nine years, which was blamed on elevated food and petroleum prices.
For traders, this is good news. Commodities like rice, sugar, corn and selected vegetables are cheaper when bought overseas. For local food producers, however, the President’s marching order is a threat to their livelihood. Things turn especially heated when it concerns the importation of rice and sugar.
Farmers groups were worried that farm gate prices would go down with the influx of imports. Traders, they said, didn’t want to buy local produce due to higher prices.
“The intention of the President is just to stabilize the supply and price in the market… The President also understands that we would import only what we need to ensure that the farmers would not suffer,” Piñol said.
As for consumers and economic managers, what’s important is the affordability of the products.
The tug-of-war between importers and local producers was especially highlighted by the disagreements between the National Food Authority’s management and its policymaking body over rice importation. Because of the delay in addressing the importation issue, NFA’s inventory was wiped out and prices in the market skyrocketed.
Although consumed by less than 5 percent of the population, NFA rice, which is priced below prices of commercial rice, caters to the marginalized sector and those situated in far-flung areas in the country.
The perception of NFA’s inefficiency was so strong that its former administrator, Jayson Aquino, had to be relieved from his post. Also, the agency was placed back under the DA umbrella. NFA is now operating under Piñol, with a new acting administrator Tomas Escarez. President Duterte has yet to appoint a new NFA chief.
For Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, importation was not the enemy but the inefficiency of the industry.
Lack of mechanization, resistance to technology, aging farmers and even disagreements among policy makers were only some of the persisting problems in Philippine agriculture —all worsened by weather disturbances.
Stakeholders are keeping their fingers crossed that 2019 will be a better year for the agriculture sector and positive changes will be instituted, especially those that will improve productivity.
