To achieve agriculture development, road maps are helpful, but not enough. They are necessary, but not sufficient. We have seen our agriculture decline precipitously over the years. While we have done commendable things in agriculture, in general, we do not do things right (efficacy), nor do we do the right things (effectiveness).
Road maps are part of our attempt to do the right things. In our global environment, one indication of whether we are doing the right things is our export performance. Last year, our negative trade balance deteriorated by 33 percent to $11.8 billion. Our $16.8 billion in annual exports compares miserably with Vietnam’s $23.6 billion, Thailand’s $35.6 billion and Indonesia’s $49.4 billion. Our top five sectors that contribute 71 percent of our exports are declining, rather than flourishing.
Road maps
Let us put the right perspective on this issue. While roadmaps are essential for exports, they are likewise essential for our own domestic production. If we cannot compete in exports, given our global generally free trade environment, we will also lose to imports if they have better quality and lower cost compared to our products.
At the May 28 meeting of the agriculture committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), two elements were identified for agriculture road maps to be successful.
The first is that the roadmaps should meticulously and thoroughly follow a content outline that is well thought of. Several road maps are lacking in this area. In contrast to some industry road maps that cost P10 million each with thorough global analysis using business and international experts, some agriculture road maps are poorly funded and do not harness the appropriate professionals to formulate the road maps.
The second is the participation and commitment of the private sector. For industry road maps, the private sector generally funds the road maps. In addition, an identified industry leader with accountability is responsible for signing off on the completed document. This helps ensure that the road maps are realistic, practical and useful for them.
For agriculture road maps, the government is generally the main funder. There is no requirement for an industry leader to stake his or her reputation on the quality of the road map. It is often regarded as the work of government, and therefore is not owned by the private sector. Consequently, several road maps just lie on the shelf and have little influence in guiding actual plans and budgets.
Environment scanning
But even with these two essential elements present, road maps are not enough to achieve agriculture development. An absolutely necessary component is a unit that consistently scans the fast-changing global environment.
This involves looking at factors such as the geo-political situation, global market trends and costs, and new technologies.
Let us consider the cacao road map as an example. For geo-political considerations, the cost changes brought about by the ongoing Ukraine war must be monitored in areas such as fertilizer and crude oil prices in competitor countries.
For market considerations, there is a growing expansion of cacao areas from low labor cost African areas such as the Ivory cost, which now produces 71 percent of the world’s cacao. This means much more competition.
For technology considerations, the key is producing high quality fermented beans. We must find the latest technologies available in the world and use or counter them, since our competitors will apply them to their advantage and possibly render our products no longer competitive.
The cacao road map is necessary to increase our average 700 gram-yield per plant to achieve the break even volume of 2 kilos. But we must add to this the unit which will monitor and track the global environment. It is only with both an effective road map and this global monitoring unit that we can creatively and successfully achieve our agriculture development goals.
The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of presidential flagship programs and projects, and former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry. Contact is agriwatch_phil@yahoo.