Rice farm clustering, irrigation to boost PH food security | Business and Politics
Dr. William Dar, former Agriculture secretary, highlights the importance of farm clustering for rice farmers to ease government aid distribution, as well as irrigation for one million hectare of land. He adds that infrastructure must be provided to catch rain as water source.
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Dr. William Dar, former Agriculture secretary, highlights the importance of farm clustering for rice farmers to ease government aid distribution, as well as irrigation for one million hectare of land. He adds that infrastructure must be provided to catch rain as water source.
Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe
Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net
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Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook
Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram
Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter
DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion
Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital
Check out our Podcasts:
Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify
Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts
Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic
Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Our guest tonight is Dr. William Dar, who twice served as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
00:04 The first time was during the administration of Joseph Estrada.
00:07 During his brief stint, Dr. Dar was credited for a remarkable 9.6% growth in the agriculture sector
00:13 that has not been replicated to this day.
00:15 As many know, he was again tapped as Agriculture Secretary by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
00:20 From 2019 to 2022, Dr. Dar pushed for the transformation of Philippine agriculture
00:26 through the 1DA reform agenda that has four major pillars.
00:30 Consolidation, modernization, industrialization and professionalization.
00:35 Of course, Dr. Dar's work in agriculture extends way beyond his time in government.
00:39 To sum that up, he has been a champion of the poor, especially the small farmers, fisher folk and agripreneurs.
00:46 For that, he has received many awards and recognitions,
00:48 including the first Swaminathan Global Leadership Award for Sustainable Development 2022,
00:54 given by the Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture,
00:56 the 10 Outstanding Young Men or TOYM of the Philippines in 1998,
01:00 the Outstanding Filipino or TOEFL Award in Cognizance of His Servant Leadership in 2016,
01:05 11 honorary doctoral degrees from various colleges and universities across the country,
01:10 and others too many to mention here.
01:12 As his background suggests, our topic tonight will literally be about gut issues.
01:16 Our general line will be, how do we ensure food security for all Filipinos?
01:21 Sir William Dar, thank you for making time for Business and Politics and welcome to the program.
01:25 Thank you too. Thank you too, please.
01:27 Sir, I forgot to mention that you also write for the Manila Times.
01:31 Thank you. Thank you.
01:32 And as we know from the Times and other news organizations, rice is a major story these days.
01:40 It's attracting a lot of attention.
01:42 There seems to be an impression that there may be a shortage and there were some, of course, government interventions.
01:48 But as former secretary and someone who's really, you know, who has your ear on the ground, so to speak,
01:56 what's your assessment of the rice situation right now?
01:59 Well, thank you, Clint, for this opportunity to be with you today or tonight.
02:05 You know, on the rice issue, according to government data, there is enough rice to feed the whole country.
02:15 Except that they also agree that there is very thin buffer stocking happening in the country today.
02:23 So while we agree that there are global headwinds, maraming problema sa mundo,
02:29 impacting on our situation, like banning Opinja for the rice exports,
02:35 and even to some extent Vietnam planning to tighten their exports.
02:43 So that started the whole thing.
02:46 There have been panic to some extent, knee-jerk reaction.
02:52 And so there is now an existing price cap implemented by government.
02:58 But everyone is also aware that there are consequences of this price cap.
03:04 The farmers are affected in regard to the farm gate price.
03:10 Already they were getting 20 and above pesos per kilo palay.
03:17 Now with the price cap that has gone down to 14, 15, 16 pesos per kilo palay.
03:27 So they're affected.
03:29 Also the retailers are affected.
03:31 And of course while they're affected, government is also talking about giving subsidy, one-time subsidy to retailers.
03:43 And of course the farmers continue to receive subsidy from now and then.
03:48 So yes, I think I would like to also advocate that the option to really manage the prices of rice at this point in time is the lowering of tariffs.
04:08 Presently when we import rice from ASEAN countries, there is a tariff of 35%.
04:19 Now I would believe that because the very objective of the tariff, that is to really collect for the farmers, the rice farmers,
04:30 there is about now 17 billion pesos collected out of this tariff collection.
04:37 And so 10 billion is being allocated yearly for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
04:45 And there is additional 7 billion that can be given as ayuda to the rice farmers having 2 hectares and below.
04:56 So in this way, this could also be a measure that can be put in place until the end of the year.
05:06 So that there is enough volume, there is enough rice in terms of the inventory of the country, 60 to 90 days supposedly.
05:17 And even to mitigate the coming of El Nino again.
05:23 So there are many good measures that can be worked out to help both the farmers and the consuming public.
05:31 But are you worried, Secretary, that there will be a global tightening of supply?
05:38 Or are we just making preparations for what might happen because of global supply chain challenges?
05:49 If El Nino becomes really a major happening, then drought will be present to most of the rice producing countries.
06:03 And the global rice market is a very thin market, about 5 to 6% of global production.
06:14 So if China is affected and other countries affected, really we will also be greatly affected as an importing country meanwhile.
06:26 It's curious for me to hear that this issue has revived that old policy debate, whether or not we should be rice sufficient or rice secure, food secure.
06:37 Do you think that the situation validates that kind of revival in policy discussion?
06:44 I would, having gone through two administrations and with these new developments in the world,
06:53 it is now time really to put our decision whether to strive for rice self-sufficiency or not.
07:04 Now, there is a new program of the Department of Agriculture, which we also had started conceptualizing then.
07:13 This is the Masagana Rice Program.
07:17 And the objective is to reach the level of 97.5%, which is near 100% already.
07:28 Now, can we be 100%? I think it's possible, but there are many things to consider.
07:34 Number one, we need to continue and elevate our efforts in farm clustering.
07:40 There's no scale, so to speak.
07:43 It's all backyard.
07:44 So backyard, so subsistence, one hectare average.
07:47 So how can farmers apply mechanization in a big way?
07:52 So you need to cluster them, even turning them into cooperatives later,
07:58 so that the necessary support services coming from government,
08:02 like the giving of machineries and the drying facilities, warehousing, can be given through the cooperatives.
08:12 Now, even if you have now this setup of clustered farms, then the private sector are encouraged to come forward and invest in rice production.
08:27 With the present level of landholding at one hectare per family or per farmer, for that matter, the private sector cannot come forward.
08:40 So there you are.
08:42 Economy of scale is number one.
08:45 For us to be looking forward for a sustainable 100% rice self-sufficiency.
08:55 The second prescription, I would call, would be in the area of engineering, infrastructure development in broad terms.
09:06 If you have build, build, build for airports, tollways and the like, this is the time to also consider a build, build, build for agriculture.
09:17 What do I mean?
09:18 Irrigation.
09:19 Irrigation is number one.
09:20 Rice production is dependent on water, good water management, availability of water.
09:28 We still need to develop irrigation systems good for one million hectares.
09:34 If we are serious enough, then put that investment.
09:41 Of course, at the rate the National Irrigation Administration is investing every year, they can only afford to develop good for 35,000 hectares.
09:53 We hope and we believe that the administration of President Marcos can accelerate the development of these irrigation systems good for one million hectares by way of having public-private partnership.
10:09 So you bring the private sector invest and you pay them over time.
10:14 That's possible. So within the next five years, one million hectares can be irrigated additionally.
10:23 Now what are the other infrastructures?
10:26 You know, we always have so much rain and there is flooding.
10:35 So there is destruction of agriculture.
10:37 Floods and droughts.
10:39 Yes, floods and droughts.
10:40 So we need now to consider in a big way the construction of rainwater catchments.
10:48 In a big way, even retrofitting the big dams that we have so that you have secondary, tertiary, cascading dams, even sub-dams.
11:02 So you are mitigating flooding, at the same time you will have water for irrigation.
11:08 You can also put fish, tilapia, hito, in these big ponds.
11:14 So there is merit to doing rainwater catchments in a big way.
11:20 So that's again an engineering concern, intervention.
11:25 Farm to market roads.
11:27 You know, you dot the rural landscape with more farm to market roads so that you can encourage more production, not only in rice, but for other crops, high value crops, fruit trees, plantation crops.
11:44 What more can be done?
11:46 Okay, the third part is the use of innovation now, technology, in the best way possible.
11:54 So that we of course continue to support innovation system by way of research and development.
12:02 Continuously developing newer varieties, high yielding varieties, climate resistant varieties and the like.
12:09 So this is what I can see for the long term sustainability of rice production in the country.
12:16 Sir, that one billion that needs to be irrigated.
12:21 One million hectares.
12:22 One million hectares.
12:23 How much will that cost?
12:25 I know, probably, Secretary, you probably looked into that before, if you can maybe recall.
12:32 I mean, is it a realistic number for a single administration?
12:37 It is possible.
12:40 I think the investment, if I am correct, that should be about, per hectare, should be about 800,000 pesos.
12:51 Okay.
12:52 So you have one million times 800,000.
12:57 Say one million also.
12:59 And say that one million hectares is irrigated, I think the issue there is to increase the productivity, right?
13:07 Yes, number one always is productivity.
13:10 That's your first major big strategy, to increase productivity per unit area.
13:16 So with rain fed areas, you harvest once, but if you irrigate, what's the possibility, twice, three times?
13:22 Yes, minimum of two times, you can go 2.5% cropping intensity.
13:29 So there you are.
13:31 We are near already 100%.
13:34 So with this additional investment in irrigation systems, then you can really sustain the production of rice over time.
13:43 And with all the other interventions, infrastructure, and the use of technology and innovation.
13:51 Thank you.
13:53 Thank you.
13:56 Thank you.
13:58 Thank you.
14:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]