AO 20 TO ADDRESS SUPPLY SHORTAGES

A PALACE order to facilitate imports of agricultural products will help address periods of low domestic output and help control prices, a Cabinet official said.

Administrative Order (AO) 20 will facilitate the “sufficiency and timeliness of imports,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement on Thursday, as it “seeks to enhance the country’s agricultural importation policy regime by streamlining administrative processes and removing non-tariff barriers.”

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of Agriculture to simplify importers’ licensing procedures, streamline the import application process and waive registration requirements for licensed traders in collaboration with other agencies like the

Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Finance.

Balisacan noted that not increasing supply during shortages worsens food insecurity and keeps poverty going. This has effects beyond just economic strains, affecting price stability and the well-being of Filipino children.

“High food prices disproportionately affect the poor and contribute to hunger, malnutrition and stunting, hindering the attainment of our development goals,” he added.

While there are concerns over the impact of AO 20, Balisacan said that it was a strategic step to safeguard food security, availability and affordability.

“In conjunction with other initiatives and programs, AO 20

is deployed as a tool that considers the welfare of our farmers and fisherfolk, and the vibrancy and potential of our agricultural sector as a growth driver of the economy,” he added.

“It contributes to the Marcos administration’s efforts to shield and protect the poor, the vulnerable and the youth from hunger, malnutrition and stunting.”

The government, he claimed, remains committed to improving the well-being of farmers and boosting agricultural productivity. Results, however, will not be immediate.

“Only fundamental reforms, along with committed and strategic interventions sustained over many years, will enable us to progressively address the gaps that constrain the sector’s supporting infrastructure, the adoption of modern technologies and processes, as well as farmers’ and fisherfolk’s access to markets and finance,” Balisacan said.

The government, he said, is “working diligently to overcome these challenges.”