Farmers in Mindanao had personally raised their concern to President Marcos over the delayed delivery of farm input in their region.

Marcos has engaged in a forum with farmers and irrigators around the country on Tuesday, Feb. 24, where a farmer from Mindanao complained that many farmers are not receiving farm inputs from the Department of Agriculture (DA) on time.

Dante Cudal, of Region 12, said the delay results in the inputs being wasted later.

"Dahil dito, may mga pagkakataon din na nasasayang ang mga imputs na ipinagkakaloob ng Department of Agriculture sapagkat huli na itong dumarating (Because of this, there are also instances when the inputs provided by the Department of Agriculture go to waste because they arrive too late)," Cudal told Marcos.

Cudal further conveyed to Marcos that the government could help more farmers if it can ensure that they receive the right in outs at the right time.

In response, Marcos said he has already instructed the DA to deliver the inputs even before the planting season begins.

However, the President explained that the delays happen because the distribution is "centralized."

"[N]aging problema ‘yan, dahil napaka-centralized nung ating sistema (It happened because our system is very centralized), Marcos responded to Cudal.

He also said that this could be due to a poor coordination between the government and farmers.

"Lahat ng inputs na pinapadala natin ay kadalasan nanggagaling din  sa isang lugar, nanggagaling sa malayo at tapos yung pagproseso na kung sino ang tatanggap ng kung ano ay napakatagal dahil hindi natin ginagamit ang teknolohiya, hindi natin ginagamit… Hindi maganda ang koordinasyon natin sa ating mga magsasaka (All the inputs we distribute usually come from a single source or from far away. Then the process of determining who receives what takes a very long time because we are not using technology, and our coordination with our farmers is not effective)," Marcos said.

"Kaya ang instruction ko sa Department of Agriculture, sabi ko unang-una, at kung – dapat e…Habang maaga pa, bago pa magsimula ang planting season, dapat mayroon na tayong mga kinukuha na lahat ng mga ibang-ibang inputs na nandiyan na at ikalat na habang – puwede naman natin ipag-antay ‘yan, e (That is why my instruction to the Department of Agriculture was this: first and foremost, while it is still early — even before the planting season begins — we should already be procuring all the necessary inputs and have them ready for distribution. We can position them in advance and simply wait for the proper time to release them)," Marcos added.

The President assured the farmers that the government is now working on fast-tracking the delivery of inputs, and that he has already directed the DA to purchase inputs early.

He further told them that the government has established seedling production sites in different locations in order to make the delivery of seeds becomes much faster and to ensure that that the seed varieties are appropriate and suitable for the season — whether it is the rainy season or the dry season — and that the correct type is sent to each area.

"Mayroon na tayong na-establish na seedling production na nasa iba't ibang lugar. Kaya parang… Yung mas maliit kaysa sa ‘yung ating ginagawa noon (So instead of relying on one large centralized operation like before, we now have smaller facilities spread out across various areas)," Marcos said.

"Ang isa pang aming ginagawa ay ang sa pag-processing na alam – para malaman namin kung saan dadalhin yung mga input (Another thing we are improving is the processing system so we can determine where the inputs should be delivered)," Marcos added.