Part One
IT’S 2017 and yet the agriculture sector is still looking for a way to achieve self-sufficiency in rice.
And since the turn of the new administration, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has set his eyes in achieving the country’s rice self-sufficiency, something that the previous administration has failed to achieve.
Based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s self-sufficiency in rice even dropped below the 90-percent mark in 2015, at 88.93 percent compared to the 91.95 percent self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) recorded in 2014. The decline was attributed to reduced share of domestic production to the country’s supply, while importation was increasing, the PSA noted.
In the PSA’s annual publication, titled Agricultural Indicators System (AIS): Food Sufficiency and Security, the agency reported that the country hit its highest SSR during 2013, which was estimated at 96.82 percent.
SSR is the extent at which a country’s local production of commodities is adequate enough to meet the demand of the whole population, the PSA added.
An SSR lower than 100 percent means that the local production couldn’t meet the country’s requirement for a specific commodity, while an SSR greater than 100 percent indicates that domestic production is more than enough to support the domestic requirements, the PSA said.
The Philippine Development Plan of the previous administration had targeted a 100-percent rice self-sufficiency level by 2016. The Aquino administration had also wanted to wipe out rice imports by 2013.
Despite billions of pesos poured into the government’s rice self-sufficiency goal program, local rice output was unable to meet the demand of Filipinos, according to PSA data.
Plans
PIÑOL has confidently said 2017 might be the year when the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) rice self-sufficiency program will start to be implemented.
“We are now in the process of finalizing the Masaganang Ani [bountiful harvest] 6000 [MA 6000] Program, which will initially target 1 million hectares of irrigated areas,” Piñol told reporters in a news briefing in mid-December.
“These areas will be supported with hybrid-rice seeds, sufficient fertilizer and efficient irrigation system and mechanization,” he added.
Under the MA 6000, the DA will identify 10 initial areas with a thousand hectares of irrigated land where the agency will plant hybrid-rice seeds.
“The purpose of the [MA 6000] is to address the issues that would contribute to productivity,” he said. “It’s the existing irrigated area that we are going to utilize, we are not expanding.”
The DA said it is eyeing to improve the national average rice production to 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare from the current 3.9 MT per hectare. Citing farmers’ testimonies, Piñol said they are able to produce more than the national average yield by planting hybridrice seeds in areas with proper irrigation system and efficient farm machines.
Past
PIÑOL initially maintained the country can achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2018.
This target was pinned on the back of the Rice Productivity Enhancement Program (RIPE), which would focus on distributing seeds and fertilizers to rice farmers greatly affected by El Niño.
However, when the finance team of the Department of Budget and Management deleted the P18-billion allocation for Piñol’s rice self-sufficiency program, he moved the target to 2019. Piñol further pushed back the target to 2020.
“The reason my earlier proposal, the RIPE, was disapproved by the economic cluster [was] because it didn’t have a recovery program,” Piñol said. “And right now, we are looking at a recovery program.”
He explained the recovery program means, “once you distribute the seeds how would you recover the cost of which in order to buy and distribute again new ones?”
“That’s the only thing [that] the economic cluster wants,” Piñol said.
And it seems that until today, there have been no final comprehensive guidelines yet for Piñol’s MA 6000 program.
In a newspaper report, a DA official said the implementation of the MA 6000 program might be pushed back to next year, as the agency’s budget for its rice program is not sufficient for the total cost of the MA 6000 program.
Mindanao
PIÑOL said he is keen on expanding rice output in former conflict areas in Mindanao, which is not usually hit by typhoons, in the government’s bid to achieve its rice self-sufficiency goal.
Piñol said the vulnerability of traditional farming areas in Luzon to strong typhoons has made it imperative for the government to look for alternative sites for rice planting. The agriculture chief made the statement after Typhoon Nina (international name Nock-ten) damaged crops in Regions 4A, 4B and 5 valued at P5.32 billion.
Piñol said he wants to expand food production in provinces used to be torn by civil war, such as Sulu, Zamboanga
and Basilan.
“[There are] unexplored areas that were war-torn before but are okay now,” Piñol said. “I asked the people in Sulu and they said that, given government support, they will be to plant rice enough to supply their province and maybe even Zamboanga.”
He cited Basilan and Tawi-tawi as other potential areas.
“These are areas that are not threatened by climatic disturbance, which we want to explore.”
Part Two
AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has set his eyes on achieving the country’s rice self-sufficiency, something that some pundits said the previous administration failed to achieve.
Piñol has said he is looking at the viability of planting rice in former war-torn areas in Mindanao and outside the country’s second-largest island group.
“According to the color-coded [national agricultural] map, Samar is a potential rice-production area because of the availability of water and availability of land,” Piñol said. “Also, it is not frequently hit by typhoons.”
While the Department of Agriculture (DA) is keen on using hybrid-rice seeds to expand output, the DA chief said it is not yet widely used by farmers in Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and Davao.
“Soccsksargen and Davao, and actually Zamboanga, as well, have great potential because these areas have slow acceptance of hybrid-seeds technology,” Piñol said. “If we are able to convince these farmers to embrace hybrid-rice seeds, then we are expecting a spike in our rice-production program.”
Security
PIÑOL’S fellow Cabinet member, Socioconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, pointed out that the Aquino administration’s rice self-sufficiency program was a “wrong policy”.
“The rice self-sufficiency [program], that’s a wrong policy,” Pernia told the BusinessMirror before assuming office as director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). “We will push for food security, not self-sufficiency, because we should be doing things that we have comparative advantage in.”
“Obviously, we don’t have comparative advantage in rice,” he added. “It’s cheaper to import rice from [countries like] Thailand.
In 2011 the DA embarked on its program, titled Food Staples Self-Sufficiency Program (FSSP) Roadmap 2011 to 2016, which aimed to eliminate rice imports by 2013 and be rice-sufficient by the end of 2016. The FSSP aimed to deliver interventions by boosting farm productivity through increased farm-mechanization level, development of better irrigation systems, reduction in postharvest losses and utilization of high-quality seeds among others.
Pernia’s sentiment was supported by Pablito M. Villegas, president and CEO of agricultural think-tank Meganomics Specialists Inc. Villegas said the DA’s focus should be in food security and not specific crop sufficiency.
“Rice self-sufficiency? Better look at it in terms of food self-sufficiency so we can use traditional indigenous foods of the Filipino people,” Villegas, who is also an economist, told the BusinessMirror. “Also, we must start slow shifting to more nutritious high- value crops and rice, such as brown rice.”
And if the government really wants the agriculture sector to fully prosper then it should stop its “commodity approach of budgeting,” according to Villegas.
“They should have to reform or have to stop the commodity approach of budgeting because it has not achieved any success,” Villegas explained. “They are budgeting in terms of what is needed, such as rice production and/or corn production.”
According to him, “that kind of budgeting has not worked and we have poured in a lot of money that has only been an avenue for more corruption.”
Villegas, who served as a senior agricultural economist for the Food and Agricultural Organization, suggests that it’s high time for the DA to implement the identification and creation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ), which is mandated under the provisions of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.
“Which means you have to look at the relative and comparative advantages of commodies in certain areas given the soil, the water and the location,” Villegas said. “You don’t stop from just producing crops but you go on developing the competitive advantages of that crop by processing or value adding.”
Victimization
GIVEN the SAFDZ mandate, Villegas said the DA should now design a development mechanism that will promote agro-based industrial clustering.
In an agro-indsutrial processing-based approach, the country is clustered
according to production areas and strategic points, such as airports and ports. Moreso, in such approach, raw produce is geared toward a specific processed product, making it more competitive compared to just being a fresh produce, explained Villegas, who also served as senior adviser to former Agriculture Secretary Salvador H. Escudero III.
“So that you can now develop not only the comparative advantages, but also the competitive advantages of the locations,” said Villegas, who was tapped by Indonesia to serve as the Agro-based Industry Specialist for the said country’s project, titled “Study on Restructuring the Agro-based Industries.”
“Therefore, the commodity or crop now has become neutral, they are not dictated now by specific programs program,” he added. “But they are dictated by the actual needs in those areas and factor endowments based on the resources available in those areas.”
Villegas points out that the government should also address the “adverse” effects of an “interlinked credit and product market”, wherein the traders and processors have the power to control the value-chain market. He adds that the government should create programs that would give farmers the opportunity to trade directly to the market.
“The farmers are still in a credit-price squeeze and they are not responding
favorably,” Villegas said. “They are still being victimized by the oligopolists in
the marketplace.” He explained the victimization is “the adverse effect of an interlinked credit and product market, wherein, even while the farmers are still planting, their harvest are already sold at cheaper price compare to their expensive production input costs.”
Part Three
THE Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as “the access for all people at all times to enough food for a healthy, active life.” Meanwhile, food self-sufficiency is defined by the International Food Policy Research Institute as being able to meet consumption needs (particularly for staple-food crops) from own production rather than by
buying or importing.
Piñol has hinted of programs that may focus on the development of other crops as a substitute to rice and means to achieve food security in the country.
“Also, we are looking at other commodities that would fill in whatever shortage or gap in the staple-food production,” Piñol said. “I have directed the DA [Department of Agriculture]-Bureau of Agricultural Research Director Nick P. Eliazar to intensify studies on adlai, which is a native indigenous plant found in mountainous areas. [People there] have been consuming and eating it as their staple food.”
The Philippines, as of 2015, is self-sufficient in the following agricultural crops: sugarcane, calamansi, papaya, pomelo, tomato, cabbage, eggplant, cassava and sweet potato, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
‘Warming up’
ROGER V. Navarro, president of Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize), said it’s about time that the agriculture chief sits down with his policy and planning team, and craft a comprehensive program for the development and direction of the agriculture sector under the current administration.
“Piñol has to buckle up, seat down and make formal plans and directives for his operatives to be implemented down the ground,” Navarro told the BusinessMirror. “He should make things formal in papers and documentation, and not in social media.”
Navarro added the government has procedures and processes run through the bureaucracy and not by social-media posts of grandstanding pronouncement, which Piñol would later retract.
Navarro suggests that the overall framework of the DA’s program should be for food security, under which are specific targets per agricultural commodity, such as self-sufficiency. “If you ask me, I would suggest to bring back the banner program—they may call it whatever—because this will give more focus on government interventions,” Navarro said, referring to the previous DA’s administration banner program priorities on rice, corn and high-value crops.
“It [the program] should be based on per-capita consumption, growth rate of population, land production area and imports plus government intervention. Target should be quantified each year for measurement, proper evaluation and adjustment,” Navarro added.
Tough time
IN a press briefing last mid-December, Piñol admitted that he and his current DA team experienced a tough time in their first six months in office due to the programs
created by the previous administration.
“The journey has been tough and hard for us, simply because some of our activities actually were constrained by the fact that the budget for the half of the year has been allocated already designed by the previous administration,” Piñol said.
“We’re not saying that these programs are not relevant to the vision of the current leadership. This situation actually somehow tied our hands in really implementing drastic reforms in the agriculture department,” he added.
Recently, the DA said it would bank on the inputs of the International Rice Research Institute (Irri) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in crafting a national rice-farming program.
“The government has plenty of work to do pertaining to rice. We would be very dependent on Irri and PhilRice in terms of formulating our program,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Operations Federico E. Laciste Jr. said in a statement.
Laciste, who is also the deputy director of the Philippines’s National Rice Program, said collaboration in developing a national strategy for rice farming is important to uplift the lives of Filipino farmers.
Irri said Laciste was briefed on the various collaborative research projects implemented jointly by the research institute and the PhilRice, in support of the National Rice Program.
The projects include the “Rice Crop Manager,” a Web-based decision support tool for precision farming, and the Philippine Rice Information System, a satellite-based rice forecasting and monitoring system. Also included is the “Green Super Rice,” (GSR) which is composed of climate-smart varieties developed under the Next Generation (NextGen) project.
PDP 2017-2022
IN the draft of its six-year Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the Duterte administration has set a more modest production target for the agriculture and fisheries sector.
The national government is keen on growing farm production by 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent annually starting this year until 2022, when the President steps down from office. The previous administration had initially targeted to increase annual agriculture and fisheries output by 3 percent to 5 percent.
“The sector has yet to overcome recurring challenges related to productivity, competitiveness, climate and disaster risks, and resource degradation and depletion,” the draft chapter read.
“Greater trade liberalization, e.g., implementation of the Asean Economic Community [AEC] and free-trade agreements, and lifting of quantitative restrictions [QR] on rice in 2017 provides opportunities to the sector, as well as poses risks to small farmers and fishermen who remain uncompetitive,” it added.
The PDP draft pointed out that crops subsector, which accounts for nearly half of agriculture and fisheries output, pulled down the overall growth of the sector in the past years.
“The subsector’s poor performance was due to: a] impacts of typhoons and El Niño that greatly affected rice and corn productions, especially in Mindanao; b] coconut scale infestation in Calabarzon; and c] limited adoption of high-yielding varieties of selected commodities,” the draft read.
Conclusion
FOR the Philippines to achieve food security, three major hurdles must be overcome: low farm productivity, low farm- mechanization level and inadequate postharvest facilities.
According to the state’s draft economic blueprint, the former is caused by limited access to credit and insurance.
The draft Philippine Development Plan (PDP) noted that population growth and aging farmers pose a threat to the local agriculture sector. As the country’s population rises, more resources are needed to produce food. And as farmers and fishermen age, there could be a drop in production.
“The average age of palay, corn, bangus [milkfish] and tilapia farm operators range from 48 to 55. While the sector’s work force gets older, the younger population finds more attractive employment opportunities outside the agriculture sector. If this situation persists, food production may be threatened.”
For the crops subsector, the government is targeting to hike production by 2 percent to 3 percent annually from 2017 to 2022. To hit these goals, the draft PDP indicated that paddy-rice output should grow by 3.95 percent this year, 4.2 percent in 2018, 4.32 percent in 2019, 4.36 percent in 2020, 4.41 percent in 2021 and 4.45 percent in 2022.
Livestock and poultry production should also grow by 3 percent to 4 percent annually, and forestry by 2 percent to 3 percent.
Encouragement
THE government is also targeting to increase commercial fishing production by 2.5 percent and municipal fishing by 1 percent annually between 2017 and 2022. Aquaculture production-growth target was set by the government at 5 percent every year.
“In the next medium term, the desired outcomes for the agriculture, forestry and fishing [AFF] sector are a) to expand economic opportunities of those who are currently engaged in producing AFF products and b) increase access to economic opportunities by small farmers and fishermen, who are typically subsistence producers and have limited market participation,” the PDP draft read.
“Providing equal opportunities for both the existing producers to expand and the marginalized farmers to participate in the market would reduce inequalities in economic opportunities,” it added.
Some of the interventions in the agriculture sector that the national government are looking at in the next six years are construction of new and maintenance of existing irrigation systems.
The government also plans to encourage farmers, especially the traditional ones, to embrace and utilize technologies in farm of developed farm machineries in pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest periods. On top of which, the government will also promote the adoption and use of high-yielding and stress-tolerant varieties of crops and quality fry of
fish species.
HVC
THE development of the high-value crops sector, which is considerably until now an undeveloped department of agriculture, is also a part of the government’s six-year plan.
Among the commodities that could be developed based on vulnerability and suitability analysis, as well as value-chain analysis of DA, include mango for Ilocos, coffee for the Cordillera Administrave Region (CAR); dairy cattle for the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) area; calamansi for Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan); abaca for Bicol and Eastern Visayas; rubber for Zamboanga peninsula, banana for Northern Mindanao; and cacao for the Davao region.
The government is also keen on improving and expanding the market of Philippine farm products, not just locally but also internationally. It intends to strengthen linkages between small farmers and local markets, as well as open new international markets for the country’s farm goods.
Legislation
IN terms of legislative agenda, the government is planning to amend the mandate of the National Food Authority (NFA), decoupling its regulatory and proprietary functions. The draft PDP said the NFA will continue to exist, but its role will focus on beefing up the rice buffer for food security.
The government also pointed out the need to amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act (ATA) of 1996, which imposes quantitative restriction (QR) on rice, after the eventuality of the expiration of the waiver of the Philippines’s right to QR on rice. The latter has a June 30 deadline in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Philippines opened up its agricultural market to other WTO member‐countries establishing a tariffication system through the ATA or Republic Act 8178, a policy paper submitted to the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center read.
“As a safety net, an effective rice program will be developed by the DA to assist rice farmers who will be dislodged from rice cultivation because of their inability to compete with possible cheaper rice to come in,” the PDP chapter draft read.
“Moreover, the tariff proceeds from rice imports shall be ploughed back to the rice sector,” it added.
Assessment
THE disposal of the P75-billion coconut- levy fund and other related remaining assets that are yet to be assessed is also a priority of the government, according to the draft PDP.
For his part, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the agriculture sector should expect more from his agency, promising the DA would roll out “better” programs starting 2018.
“When the budgeting for 2018 comes along sometime early next year, I will already be able to lay down the programs and projects, which would be reflective of the directions for agriculture and fisheries as set by President Duterte,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on Christmas Day.
According to the social-media user DA chief, these programs and projects would be more focused on food production, poverty alleviation and greater contribution by the agriculture and fisheries sectors to national growth.
“Those who expressed amazement at the speed with which I do things and implement programs are even in for bigger surprises,” Piñol said. “I’m just warming up. You have to understand that the budget and programs I am implementing now were crafted by the previous officials of the DA.”