Take bull by horns

After rolling up his sleeves and starting his term in June 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s defining move was to assume the top post at the agriculture department to underline his administration’s commitment to put food on Filipino families’ tables.

Problems of output not matching demand — thus the need to import — and the high cost of production were among the factors that dragged economic growth.

Then President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed himself agriculture secretary, a move indicating his recognition of the need to fulfill the people’s most basic needs.

“It’s important that the President take that portfolio not only to make it clear to everyone the high priority we place on the agricultural sector but also as a practical matter so that things are clear to everyone about the high priority and so that things will move quickly,” Marcos had indicated.

More than a year after, Mr. Marcos gave way to Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., president of deep-sea fishing company Frabelle Fishing Corp., who the Chief Executive said “understands very well the problems that agriculture is facing.”

That was in November 2023 when Laurel took the reins at the Department of Agriculture to perk up the sector that has always been the laggard in the journey to consistently strong growth.

Laurel gave priority to agricultural modernization to raise food production.

In 2023, palay production reached an unprecedented 20 million metric tons. This indicated that reforms in the sector were starting to make an impact.

President Marcos attributed the 1.5-percent increase in rice production in 2023 to the DA’s distribution of better rice seeds and fertilizer.

Farmers, cooperatives and associations were also provided with warehouses with mechanical dryers; assistance for hog repopulation programs; working capital; capital for multi-purpose cooperatives and for the purchase of hauling trucks; and certified rice seeds.

Still, the DA is faced with the problem that matters: the demand to make rice affordable to the poorest families.

Laurel said the government-subsidized price of P29 per kilo would be made available nationwide by selling aging but good-quality rice stocks.

The National Food Authority (NFA) was earlier caught selling the old stocks to their favored traders instead of directly to poor communities.

Among those given priority access to the low-cost rice are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and solo parents, which account for around 6.9 million households.

Laurel said the DA needs to gather data from the pilot areas, from farm to retail, which means the nationwide availability of the grains for the poor will start after two months.

“This will be a one-year program so we can review the entire chain, from buying seeds, planting them, utilizing fertilizer, sourcing fertilizer, harvesting, warehousing, up to the retailing stage, to determine where we could save on costs to lower prices to consumers,” Laurel said.

Agriculture, which is the biggest sector of the economy since the majority of Filipinos rely on it for their livelihood, has been the laggard in the development journey which means that the majority are not partaking of the wealth being generated.

In the final four years of the Marcos administration, the changes introduced may turn the situation around to make the farm sector the leader of growth instead of the perennial hindrance to the economy attaining its full potential.

The sector employs some 13 million Filipinos, or about 25 percent of the labor force, whose economic status must be upgraded to attain the nation’s dream of joining the developed world.