Food security assurance

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SoNA) was straightforward. It was like he was presiding over a corporate meeting where he presented all the exigent data and then came up with strategies that would address problems and prospects.

That made him quite distinct from his predecessors who have had the predilection of indulging in adjectival reverie to conceal problems and lavish the audience with promises, promises, and more promises.

The President told us in no ambiguous terms the present state of the nation and presented a charted course, showing us where the turbulent waters are. He then assured us that we can navigate through these challenges with ample successes in the areas of the economy, defense, infrastructure, education, health, foreign affairs and food security which are embodied in his agriculture agenda. Every plan and course of action was clear and doable.

Throughout the SoNA, Marcos mentioned Mindanao only once and some nitpickers trivialized this as if the region is not part of his priority.

It does not matter actually for, in fact, his plans and strategies were all-encompassing. He put on record his campaign statements that he will continue with what the Duterte administration has started and that if at all there will be changes, it is only meant to expand them.

I have written quite extensively on the issue of food security which is the centerpiece of his immediate agenda given the imponderable global crises arising from the Ukraine war, pandemic, and the propensity of the agriculture managers of the past administration to resort to importation, instead of strengthening our agricultural productivity.

Marcos sees the potential of this sector and placed his presidency at stake by personally presiding over the Department of Agriculture.

He had issued a statement that he will bring down the price of rice from the average of P43 per kilo to within the range of P20 to P30 per kilo. The skeptics in the moribund opposition jeered him given their frame of mind that what PBBM presented was simply absurd and impossible.

But Marcos is confident. To start with, he tells us that the government will procure fertilizers and will allocate this to farmers. This, in effect, will eliminate tariffs and traders’ profits and therefore will reduce the cost drastically. This will be a big relief to farmers and in the short term will translate to better yield. Add an assurance that the National Food Authority (NFA) will buy farmers’ freshly harvested palay even at P18/kilo and we can expect bumper crops to follow.

With President Marcos himself wielding the baton, he can prompt his subalterns to action. If he can bring in the fertilizers within the next 20 days, these can still catch up with the second planting season and by yearend, the country will have substantial stocks of rice. The Masagana 150 is easily achievable. It will help if the government under M-150 includes certified rice seeds.

This will give the agriculture sector enough momentum for the planting season next year. In the meantime, the price of rice by yearend will then be within the range of P25-P30 per kilo, and by next year P20/kilo will be achievable.

PBBM’s real challenge will be the restoration of the facilities of the NFA to be able to address the post-harvest requirement needed for freshly harvested paddy rice. On the other hand, the NFA Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) cold storage facilities for perishable aggie products like vegetables, fruits, meat and fish must be separately revived.

The FTI cold storage complex in Taguig should be refurbished.

Much of the FTI assets, including valuable real estate, were sold to the mestizos in Makati who helped in the overthrow of the Marcos government on onerous sweetheart terms. PBBM moreover does not want to dwell on what happened in the past and would rather rev the engines of growth for lost opportunities.

Hopefully, the remnants of the opposition, among them Riza Hontiveros and Koko Pimentel, would help in the revitalization of the economy and food security and stop the folly of getting Leila de Lima out of detention. The world is facing uncertain times and there should be no room for childish irrelevance.

“Throughout the SoNA, Marcos mentioned Mindanao only once and some nitpickers trivialized this as if the region is not part of his priority.

“On

the other hand, the NFA -FTI cold storage facilities for perishable aggie products like vegetables, fruits, meat and fish must be separately revived.