The country’s progressive farmers and corporate farms have high productivity and their products could compete with imports. Despite food exports totaling $5.1 billion, the Philippines still incurred a $5.9 billion trade deficit, thus earning the dubious distinction of being the only country with a net food deficit country among the original five ASEAN member-countries.
Dr. Emil Javier, National Scientist and currently Chairman of the Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines, Inc. (CAMP), painted this somber picture in a recent webinar among agriculture and agribusiness stakeholders.
Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAFI), pointed out that poor agricultural production was mainly due to the big drop in livestock and poultry production due to the African Swine Flu outbreak.
He also deplored that despite contributing 10 percent to total gross domestic product (GDP), the P66.4-billion budget for agriculture accounts for a measly 1.5 percent of the P4.506 trillion national budget. There is an apparent policy bias for consumption and a lack of emphasis on production programs that would boost food security.
Structural reforms are in order. Small farmers and fisher folk (SFF) who constitute the majority in the agriculture sector are extremely poor: 36 percent of them live below the poverty threshold. To lift them up and out of poverty, Dr. Javier bats for twin measures: first, “improvement of delivery of extension services to SFFs; and second, farm consolidation and clustering of small farms into larger management units to attain economies of scale and facilitate their equitable participation in the supply and value chain.”
Devolution of agriculture has also been counter-productive, given the lack of capacity and inefficiency of most municipal agricultural officers. The solution is to elevate agricultural production planning and direction to the provincial level and this may be achieved through improved budget execution and enhanced collaboration among the Department of Agriculture, the local government units, and other stakeholders.
Another strategy for “lifting the bottom half” is farm consolidation and clustering to achieve scale economies in production that could be leveraged to obtain better farm gate prices. By organizing themselves into associations and cooperatives, the small farmers will elevate their position in the food value chains.
The government should ensure a level playing field for local producers so they could compete with low-cost subsidized imports from pro-farmer countries. The One Town-One Product (OTOP) program could enable a more focused and competitive product marketing strategy. Mandating LGUs to set aside 10 percent of their Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) budget for food security will augment the resources of the DA and help develop the agriculture sector.
Modernizing and rationalizing elements supply chain elements such as shipping and transport, cold storage, warehousing and post harvest facilities, will surely improve product quality and price competitiveness.
When our small farmers and fisherfolk have been enabled to join the mainstream of economic and social opportunity then, by their sheer number, they could lift the country to a new era of prosperity.