FROM THE MARGINS
There is no truer statement: food is everyone’s business. This was the theme of the “Agriculture and Food Security Summit” that the Makati Business Club (MBC) held last Sept. 16 at the BGC Arts Center. This is part of its ongoing efforts to engage stakeholders and find ways for the private sector to help drive sustainable development in agriculture. I am glad to have been part of this initiative, since I believe that increasing agricultural productivity and farmers’ income remains one of the most important ways to improve our economy and uplift people’s lives.
More than 200 people attended the event, which was graced by no less than Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. He underscored the crucial role of government and private sector partnership in modernizing agriculture, emphasizing the need to mechanize farm processes, improve infrastructures and logistics, and open up new markets. The Secretary said these challenges must be faced head-on, given climate change.
“Our focus remains on boosting agricultural production to ensure accessibility to affordable, safe and nutritious food while also developing agriculture and fisheries as profitable industries for all stakeholders in the value chain,” Sec. Tiu Laurel said.
Public-private partnership
Recognizing that the MBC summit is “a timely and essential platform for dialogue between government and the private sector,” Secretary Tiu Laurel lauded organizers for providing a forum for stakeholders to exchange ideas and forge partnerships to ensure food security. He also announced his department’s formation of consultative councils that would meet monthly, ensuring that their policy and program directions will be more timely and responsive.
I am very happy that this became part of a subsequent press release that is now posted on the DA website. Working with stakeholders is the best strategy to combat the sad state that MBC Chairman Ed Chua lamented: Despite the country’s agricultural heritage, Filipinos often pay higher food prices than their Southeast Asian neighbors.
Panel discussions
The summit also featured a series of panel discussions. I was asked to lead the panel discussion on cooperatives, emphasizing their role in community development and supporting local businesses’ value chains. MBC Trustee Doris Magsaysay-Ho led the session on logistics, with the end in view of streamlining our supply chains and finding ways to reduce food waste. MBC member Dickie Buhain led the session on agri-tech, which explored new technologies that may be used to make farming more efficient.
Our panel on cooperatives included DA Undersecretary Asis Perez, Gisela Tiongson of Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF), and Sylvia Paraguya of National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO). Dr. Cielito Habito was our moderator. We had a very lively panel discussion on how the cooperative sector plays a big role in agriculture. We all agreed that capacity building for agri-cooperatives is crucial, especially in professionalizing management, strengthening governance, financing, and facilitating market access so they can bring their produce directly to the consumers. Sec. Tiu Laurel is right: helping agri-cooperatives is one of the best ways to increase farmers’ productivity and income, as well as lowering the prices of commodities.
After the panel discussions, MBC signed partnerships with CARD Business Development Service Foundation, JGF, NATCCO, Cargill Philippines, and AGREA Foundation – these are all aimed towards working together and empowering cooperatives. MBC also joined “Kain Tayo Pilipinas,” a program of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). This partnership between the private sector and government will surely make an impact in addressing food security and malnutrition concerns.
Helping food producers
The government needs to work strategically with the private sector to reduce food prices and ensure food accessibility for all Filipinos. I appreciate MBC’s goal of achieving food security by supporting partnerships between business and farmer cooperatives to improve the agricultural value chain and lower the cost of production.
Jollibee Foods Corporation Philippines President Joseph Tanbuntiong shared his company’s partnership with cooperatives. He said that the private sector can contribute to transforming food systems, sharing innovative strategies and collaborative opportunities for the private sector to drive impactful changes in food security.
“To build a sustainable food system, we must put smallholder farmers at the center of this transition. Their participation and inclusion are not just beneficial but essential to achieving long-term food security,” Tanbuntiong said.
MBC Trustee Manolito Tayag also called for support for farmers. He lamented the fact that the producers of food do not benefit from high prices and that farmers compose the biggest group of workers, yet they remain among the poorest in the country. I wholeheartedly support his call:
“The business sector, learning from the success of our individual industries, should apply the same success factors to agriculture and food security.”
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“It’s clear that agriculture, done right, is the best means the world has today to simultaneously tackle food security, poverty, and environmental degradation.” —Irene Rosenfeld
(Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication advocate. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI).)