Gov’t: Agribusiness needs reform

The government is slated to host a large delegation gathering stakeholders and discuss issues affecting the sector and come up with solutions.

In a move calling government for reforms in the farm sector, the Department of Finance (DoF), Agriculture (DA) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), in a statement, bared the gathering of public and private/business sector stakeholders for the Sulong Pilipinas 2019 Agribusiness Summit on Tuesday 17 December.

According to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, public and private stakeholders need to continue working together in transforming traditional agri-fishery farms into “inclusive, resilient and globally competitive agribusiness enterprises.”

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the holding of the Sulong Pilipinas for agribusiness “is how public-private partnership works.”

“The government side delivers the medium. The private sector delivers content. It is productive symbiosis,” Dominguez said.

The event would involve a series of consultative conferences between the Duterte administration and the private sector, which started in June 2016 also in Davao City before then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte took over as President.

For the 10th edition of this dialogue, participants from the agribusiness community will discuss a wide range of issues to produce actionable recommendations to help the government focus its efforts on implementing game-changing reforms in the agribusiness sector.

There will be workshops on poultry and livestock; grains (corn and rice); fisheries; coconut; high-value crops (cacao, coffee, rubber, banana, mango and vegetables); infrastructure; and farm consolidation/clustering and agri-tourism.

Recommendations accelerating the implementation of these actionable programs will then be presented to President Duterte.

In addition to Dar and Dominguez, also invited to the event are other Cabinet members, among them Secretaries Roy Cimatu of Environment and Natural Resources, John Castriciones of Agrarian Reform and Eduardo Año of the Interior and Local Government.

Representatives from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Go Negosyo advocacy group, Makati Business Club and Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. have signified their participation in the event.

The collaboration between DA and DoF with private sector stakeholders is expected to make for a more robust agribusiness sector founded on Dar’s eight paradigms of the ‘New Thinking’ for agriculture, which includes modernization and industrialization, among other crucial elements in sectoral transformation.