Group wants LGUs to prioritize food security
A private sector group is calling on President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an executive order (EO) that will require local government units (LGUs) to allocate 10 percent of their internal revenue allotment (IRA) for food security and to p develop Philippine agriculture.
In an online press briefing on Thursday, the leaders of Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Fisheries Inc. (Pcafi) and Coalition for Agriculture Mechanization in the Philippines (CAMP) said the measure will help mitigate the effect of any reduction in the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) funds and resources meant to boost the country’s farm and fishery sector.
Pcafi President Danilo Fausto lamented on the government’s lack of priority for food production, which is key to a nation’s food sufficiency and security. Of the total national budget of P4.506 trillion, the share of agriculture is a measly 1.5 percent or P66.4 billion, despite contributing 10 percent to the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP).
To address the disparity in budget allocation to the agriculture sector, Fausto said that “rather than go to Congress,” which will take a long time and process, “we will continue to lobby” to the President to issue an EO that will mandate LGUs to set aside a minimum of 10 percent of their IRA solely for agricultural initiatives—from production to processing, manufacturing and trading.
“It should be the task of the LGUs in coordination with DA to provide farm extension services to trickle down efficient production techniques and technology in food production and diversification,” Fausto said.
“Community organizing should be done in collaboration with the CDA (Cooperative Development Authority), LGU and DA, to put
into reality the consolidation of small farm holdings lands for efficient production and economies of scale,” he added.
During the briefing, CAMP Chairman Emil Javier also noted that the EO issuance will allow LGUs to perform their responsibility in ensuring the country’s food security, especially during these difficult times of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Our signal is for the LGUs to look and see that there is a repsonsibility to invest more [in food security],” he said.
“That can be very well done by the President through an executive order,” Javier added.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier expressed support to the private sector’s proposal to legislate agriculture policies that will help ensure farmers’ welfare while improving agricultural production.
‘Wishful thinking’
Meanwhile, Javier doubted that the DA will be able to achieve its goal of 2.5 percent growth this year for the agriculture sector, which registered a way bigger decline in the first quarter of 2021. Earlier this week, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s agricultural production went down by 3.3 percent in January to March this year, as compared to a 1.7-percent drop recorded during the same period in 2020.
The PSA attributed the significant decrease to lower outputs recorded in poultry and livestock, which was badly hit by African swine fever (ASF) since September 2019.
When asked about his forecast on the agriculture growth for this year, Javier said “I would suppose… that the 2.5 percent goal of the DA for this year… [is] a wishful thinking.”
“The market’s not back. The hotels and restaurant are not there yet. So, we really need to put the foundation now so that next year it’ll be better,” he added.
This is why the DA should be given “fair funds,” according to Fausto.
“We are really crawling and I do not see how we can grow faster… We lost a lot of our consumers and demand and the problem there is still that our economic managers still thought we are in shortage,” said Fausto, who also stressed the “bias” of the government towards the consumer and “low” priority given to producers.
He furthermore challenged the DA leadership to protect not only the interest of the consumers but of the producers as well in order to ensure long-term sustainability of food production.
“The challenge for us is how do we help the small farmers and fisherfolk. Among so many reforms that we can do, there are two that we should focus on,” Javier said.
He was referring to working on improvements of delivery of extension of services to farmers and fishers as well as farm consolidation to attain economies of scale and facilitate their “equitable” participation in the supply chain.