When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took the helm of the Department of Agriculture or DA early into his term, he was aware of the persistent, if not fundamentally systemic, flaws in agricultural structures.

One such systemic flaw is the inequitable advantages granted traders and middlemen in pricing food prices post-farm-gate. Every link in the food chain not only slaps on an exponential margin that fails to trickle back to the farmer, the most vulnerable in the supply chain, but these cumulatively aggravate food inflation to the historic levels we see today.

Another challenge festers within farm gates. Farmers must contend with the highest raw input costs at the pre-harvest stage. These include imported chemical and petroleum-based fertilizers and toxic pesticides, which usually destroy and reduce soil productivity and farm viability.

The first structural aberration continues to pose challenges for other food crops, thereby distracting the DA from addressing the second challenge inflicted directly on farmers.

As DA Secretary, the President started on the right foot when he addressed these twin issues. He recognizes the negative impact of input costs on farmers who, unlike millers, traders, and importers, neither enjoy adequate access to debt capital nor enjoy economies of scale enough to disperse these costs.

Of the inputs, the most formidable, albeit necessary, is fertilizer, which accounts for 25 to 50 percent of total inputs, while pesticides range from 5 to 25 percent.

The Marcos administration sought a novel science-based solution that substantially mitigated high fertilizer and pesticide costs, increasing farm productivity and farmer incomes. It provided the economy with an exclusive export product that earned substantial FOREX revenues.

Perhaps unwittingly, the DA had one such product already in its inventory following Marcos' Balanced Fertilization Program.

Two scientific breakthroughs had passed the development stage and, in repeated trials, were yielding all of the preceding.

One, perennial rice, a variety capable of growing from season to season without repeated seeding by farmers, was developed in China. Unfortunately, it is not available locally.