Paying attention to agriculture

OVER the years, compared to the other economic pillars of our gross domestic product, namely, industry and services, agriculture always lagged behind. In the pandemic year (2020), it did not change with Agriculture accounting for only 10.18 percent of the GDP compared to Service of 61.42 percent and Industry 28.40 percent. Yet, the country is agricultural by nature and topography and millions are into marginal farming.

Since the 1960s the problems have been the same: scant government attention; lack of financing and expensive inputs; no marketing network and farm-to-market roads; and, of course, the nasty weather that slaps us with either a drought or a typhoon.

We were somewhat amazed, however, that based on our study on the Benguet Agri-pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC)—THE biggest among the 22 such centers in the country—it seems the agri-vegetable business seemed pandemic-resilient. Of course, the BAPTC serves the Cordillera Region, which accounts for at least 75 percent of vegetables in the country—supplying them from Batanes to Mindanao. (This we learned during a webinar presentation sponsored by the Management Association of the Philippines-agri Group).

Total BAPTC volume traded went up from (2018) 71.2 million kilograms (kgs) to (2019) 106.5 million kgs to Covid year (2020) of 170.3 million kgs. BAPTC Gross Receipts scaled up similarly from (2018) P21 million to (2019) P25 million to (2020) P31 million. Their current biggest buyer-destinations are: Divisoria; Balintawak; Urdaneta (Pangasinan); Batangas; and, Tacloban.

The numbers would show that many people had shifted to agriculture (growing vegetables especially) due to economic displacement (loss of jobs and income elsewhere). And people have actually learned to eat more vegetables, which are generally cheaper (yet more nutritious) than meat and seafood, or learned to mix veggies with other stuff.

The Agri-pinoy Trading concept was institutionalized under the administration of the late President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III behind his Agriculture Secretary Prospero J. Alcala. In the case of BAPTC, some P700 million in investments have been altogether sunk into the facility with another P80 million coming in soon for equipment and working capital.

Current Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar recently announced, however, that realizing the bureaucratic red tape in government that they feel hindered the growth and profitability of BAPTC, the entity will soon be converted into a corporation. They probably did a study recognizing that the track record of BAPTC (2013-2020) of P16.7 billion in gross receipts that benefited 187,000 farmers (gifted them a P2.3-billion net income) could have even been better when left to corporate managers.

According to Violeta B. Selda, who is CEO of BAPTC as of May this year, there are 146 accredited farmer cooperatives and associations, 36 trader and buyer groups, 4 transport groups and scores of packers and porters. There are roughly 40,000 identified stakeholders.

There is a constant need to re-educate the farmers, Salda said, as there are unscrupulous fly-by-night buyers who gyp them into handing them out credit terms only to run away with some P29 million in payables— leaving the farmers holding the proverbial empty bag.

Capacity building of a center

BESTSELLERS in volume and value at BAPTC are potatoes, regular and Chinese cabbage and carrots (fourth is radish). These three, especially, and other vegetables are still bought by many Visayan and Mindanao provinces from Luzon.

Due to the Rice Tariffication Law, millions of rice farmers in the country, even before Covid-19, were brought to their knees and shifting to vegetables and high-value crops should have been an alternative. Agriculture should have been the logical shift after tourism, especially in the Visayan islands, has been beaten black and blue by the virus scare and lockdowns.

They can learn a thing or two on how to operate their own Agri-pinoy centers patterned after the BAPTC.

But the traditional role of just being a mere conduit between producers and buyers of agricultural goods is not enough to make a Trading Center become worth its while. The facilities in BAPTC will tell one what makes such a center tick and succeed.

It has 12 giant cold-storage and even pre-cooling facilities, specialized washing machines, air-drying, a modern laboratory (for checking pest, bacteria presence and nutrition values), modern-technology-driven clipping machine, lifters/containers and packaging equipment.

The BAPTC has trading spaces that can accommodate 3,000 metric tons of goods per day and its cold storage and warehouse facilities are enough to store huge quantities in lean months and keep the goods in saleable condition. A processing center even converts off-sized vegetables and trimmings and converts them into vegetable noodles.

Conclusion

GIVEN the enormity of the income loss of farmers due to Covid-19, the punishment inflicted upon rice farmers, the relatively benign neglect of farmers (as proven by their current destitute state), it behooves the provincial local government units to bring their microscopes and focus the turn-around of the economy to include agriculture.

Using hybrid and inbred rice seeds to produce high-value rice for tourists (assuming we turn around soon enough), and producing organic and cheap additives like root crops, corn, coconut and rice to lower the cost of feeds to livestock are two of the many initiatives under the present “One DA Reform Agenda.”

The existence of layers of brokers before fish goes to the local markets is something government can lick by dedicated and focused financing and strategic cold storage facilities in the provinces. And bring down the cost of marine food for consumers.

Surely, this agri-weakness did not just happen all of a sudden in just one year. Certainly woven across are tapestries of wrong priorities and reckless neglect of Agriculture that litter the many years behind us. Extending callow sympathy to the near-death of agriculture is not enough.

Action pronto is needed as hunger stalks millions of our countrymen especially in the countryside.

Zoilo P. Dejaresco, a former banker, is a financial consultant, media practitioner and book author. He is a Life and Media member of Finex. His views here, however, are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Finex and the Reach the author via