When a strategy becomes useless

For a new strategy to be effective, it must be followed by appropriate changes in structure, budget and people.

Last year, two agriculture transformation strategies were formed during two separate conferences. These emerged during the National Farmer-Fisherfolk Congress last May 14, which was followed by the Department of Agriculture (DA)-organized National Food Security Summit. But since there was hardly any change in structure, budget or people, not much happened after.

There is a new agriculture strategy proposal submitted to the new administration: the 432-page National Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and Industrialization Plan (NAFMIP). We hope that this time, the appropriate changes in structure, budget or people will take place.

The center of the new strategy is changing agriculture governance from a commodity (i.e., rice) to a commodity system (i.e., rice system) approach. For example, rice governance will no longer be limited to rice production, but will now involve all aspects of the value chain: from production to marketing. It will also include raising the rice farmer’s income.

Today, the single commodity production approach is used by our rice, corn and coconut farmers in 74 percent of our arable lands. With this approach, many are condemned to poverty. Our rural poverty level of 32 percent is approximately double Vietnam’s 17 percent and Thailand’s 15 percent.

The DA structure should be changed to support the commodity chain strategy. An undersecretary must be assigned to handle each major commodity chain. He or she must then perform on results-oriented indicators, including production, profitability, other products or enterprises, and farmer incomes.

For example, the undersecretary for coconut will now also be responsible for intercropping, processing, consolidation and other activities that can raise a coconut farmer’s P25,000 annual income to P200,000 or more. The commodity chains identified at this time are for rice, coconut, corn, livestock and fisheries.

Budget next

The DA’s 1.7-percent share of the national budget (whereas Vietnam has a 6.7-percent share and Thailand, 3.6 percent) will be insufficient to implement the new strategy.

The budget distribution today is also inconsistent with NAFMIP’s equitable objectives. There was a year when rice got 40 percent of the budget when it contributed only 22 percent to our agriculture gross domestic product. Livestock got only an 8-percent budget share, when it contributed 34 percent.

The supervising commodity chain undersecretary must be held responsible for using it (absorptive capacity) and doing it in a responsible manner (i.e., corruption).

A Commission on Audit report on the DA’s 2020 performance showed P9 billion in unused funds and P22 billion in unliquidated expenses. This is an alarming one-third of the budget. The public-private DA budget monitoring committee earlier abolished should be restored immediately to prevent a similar situation and provide transparency and accountability.

Personnel

Though most DA personnel are very competent and committed, some in power positions are not. Each DA official should therefore be evaluated for his or her track record and honesty. Those who do not pass this evaluation should immediately be replaced or transferred.

We must also learn from countries that are more successful than us. Many learned their technology from us, so we must now learn best practices and strategy implementation from them.

Asking their experts to come for possible six-month live-in senior advisory services may help us jump-start our strategy implementation. Countries to consider are Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, and even Israel and China. They can quickly help propel us to the rapid progress we desperately need at this time.

Unless we get the appropriate structure, budget and people, our strategy will not see the light of day.

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 [email protected].