‘Agripreneurship’ key to rice production, food security | Business and Politics - video Dailymotion

The Manila Times

‘Agripreneurship’ key to rice production, food security | Business and Politics  Dr. William Dar, former Agriculture secretary, underlines the need to elevate the Filipino’s mind set on rice production. Agricultural entrepreneurship or ‘Agripreneurship’ will entice more and more to get into farming, being business owners instead of just farmers. Moreover, agribusiness will invite the private sector to be involved in rice production.   Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  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  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes

Transcript

00:00 Sir, very interesting discussion on rice.

00:02 Now, one of the things that have been reported,

00:05 that has been reported is,

00:07 who will plant this crop or this grain?

00:09 Because I think you yourself said

00:11 when you were still at the DA,

00:14 that you were already warning that the farmers are aging

00:19 and that we need to get the younger Filipinos to get into it.

00:22 And then recently you were in Jakarta at the ASEAN summits.

00:26 You were talking about entrepreneurship.

00:29 Can you expound on that concept?

00:31 Is that the solution?

00:33 Yes, Clint.

00:34 I think even let's use the Philippine scenario,

00:39 the Philippine agriculture sector as a case in point.

00:42 You know, we need to elevate our mindset

00:46 in treating agriculture as now an agribusiness venture.

00:52 Otherwise, as we said before,

00:56 subsistence farming, one hectare upgrades,

01:00 so all this will lead to really backyard agriculture.

01:05 So agribusiness is the way forward.

01:09 And I've been hammering that out

01:11 during the Duterte administration that I served,

01:14 that the way we can elevate agriculture

01:18 so that we can also encourage the youth,

01:21 and because our farmers are aging, is agripreneurship.

01:26 Okay.

01:28 Now, I was highlighting early on about clustering.

01:32 Yes, sir. Okay?

01:33 So necessarily when you are now clustered,

01:38 then you go elevate your game into forming cooperatives.

01:42 So these cooperatives will be the entry point as well

01:46 to have a good mindset,

01:49 a more comprehensive mindset of agribusiness,

01:53 so that the production can be handled much better

01:57 in terms of increasing productivity per unit area

02:00 by the farmers.

02:01 Then the cooperatives will handle the market

02:06 and will handle the agribusiness opportunities

02:09 for the group.

02:10 In that way, the farmers will be getting much higher,

02:15 of course, again, as a group,

02:18 they have higher productivity and higher income

02:21 because they are now looking at the whole value chain

02:26 much more when they partner with private sector.

02:30 And that's where that public-private partnership

02:34 between the big brothers and the government together

02:38 will partner to nurture and assist the clustered farms,

02:43 the cooperative farms.

02:46 So that's what we are proposing,

02:50 even in our discussions in Jakarta.

02:53 You know, I was requested to highlight

02:58 how can we ensure food security for the ASEAN region

03:02 from the business advisory council point of view.

03:06 And it's good governments are already talking as well

03:09 and having good agreements.

03:11 But again, highlighting the importance

03:15 of the private sector investments

03:18 because governments cannot do alone

03:20 in terms of all the budget necessary

03:24 to prop up the agriculture sector.

03:27 It has to be led by the private sector.

03:31 So in our case, we have the Kapatidang at Lahat

03:36 Agri Program, CALAP.

03:38 Under the Go Negosyo, Mr. Joey Concepcion initiated this.

03:44 We started this in January.

03:46 And now we are almost having about 32 big brothers.

03:51 Meaning these are the heads of companies,

03:54 big companies in agriculture engaged in agribusiness.

03:58 So we signed agreements with the government,

04:02 particularly those institutions

04:05 directly involving those commodity industries.

04:10 And in a way, we are saying that the business models,

04:15 the inclusive business models of the big brothers,

04:18 the private companies will have to be also

04:21 be institutionalized in the roadmap development

04:26 of that commodity industry.

04:29 So that's what the government has agreed to also.

04:34 To really see to it that the successful models

04:39 already experienced by private sector

04:43 can also be advocated much more by government.

04:48 - So you think that's possible to do in rice?

04:51 Because I see a lot of younger people going into,

04:54 with a high-tech approach to vertical farming.

04:58 They have these higher value crops.

05:01 But rice is quite strategic and important

05:03 for the Philippines, is it?

05:04 - Very much so.

05:05 The new technologies, the drone technology, for one.

05:09 It can be used for direct seeding of rice.

05:14 - Wow, okay.

05:15 - It can be used to do some spraying.

05:18 It can be used for fertilizing the rice,

05:23 the biofertilizers, for one.

05:26 So there are many uses of this new technology.

05:29 Even simple apps like monitoring planting dates

05:36 and harvesting dates so that you can directly link them

05:40 to, say, markets.

05:41 So these are very powerful tools.

05:44 And now can encourage the younger generation to come

05:48 because of that agribusiness orientation,

05:51 because of the new use of technologies like drones,

05:56 the apps, and--

05:57 - Even AI?

05:59 - Artificial intelligence, yes.

06:00 Everything is possible now that we can really bring

06:06 the younger generation to agriculture and agribusiness.

06:10 - Is that already happening, Secretary,

06:12 or do we need to do more promotions?

06:15 Because I think when you were Secretary--

06:16 - When I was there as Secretary, Clink,

06:19 we saw to it that there are good programs

06:22 that we initiated, and that's still ongoing.

06:26 - Okay.

06:27 - That's still being done by the present leadership.

06:31 That's good.

06:32 And we can accelerate, and even if there are other programs,

06:37 like what I can mention one additional program

06:44 which we started, but there's little funding today,

06:50 is the startups in agriculture.

06:52 - Okay, okay.

06:54 - We need to build up that mindset again,

06:56 that culture of having to encourage the younger generation

07:01 by way of having some funding for their initiatives

07:06 and their ideas, having to have proof of concept

07:12 before you go commercialize it.

07:14 - Mm-hmm.

07:15 You know, at the ASEAN meeting,

07:16 they were talking about cross-border flow of funding

07:21 for micro, small, and medium enterprises.

07:24 Did you hear any of that discussion

07:27 maybe applied to agripreneurs in ASEAN?

07:29 - You know, good, you asked me that, Clint.

07:34 We signed up, I mean, GoNegosyo here,

07:38 through the Kapatid Angat Lahat program,

07:40 Agri program, CALAP, signed up with seven ASEAN countries.

07:45 - Wow, okay.

07:47 - So this is the first time at the ASEAN level

07:51 elevated business advisory council

07:55 to business advisory council level.

07:58 And just this morning we met,

08:03 and there is a visit of the Malaysian group

08:08 that will now pursue this collaboration

08:15 at the business level.

08:18 So, Angganda, we had signed first with Malaysia,

08:23 followed by Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos.

08:28 So almost all the member economies

08:34 are now utilizing this power of the business council

08:39 as a way to enhance also this big brother relationship

08:45 with the government to help the agri SMEs.

08:52 - Yes.

08:53 - So you know pretty well that there are lots of MSMEs

08:58 in agriculture needing capacity building,

09:02 needing all these assistants, mentoring,

09:06 linkage to capital, and linkage to markets.

09:10 So it's a point of (speaking in foreign language)

09:14 - Outside of the GoNegosyo CALAP program,

09:17 you have been going around the region.

09:21 Is there other opportunities you think

09:22 for our young entrepreneurs to connect with,

09:25 say, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thai young entrepreneurs?

09:28 Is that a possibility?

09:30 - That's part of the, I would call,

09:33 we have now brought to the level of the ASEAN,

09:38 the CALAP program, where we will also look at

09:42 possibilities of the young entrepreneurs

09:44 to have partnership between and among countries already.

09:50 (speaking in foreign language)

09:54 (speaking in foreign language)

09:57 But seeing to it that we will look at the possibilities

10:01 of encouraging the younger generation

10:05 to elevate their gaming agribusiness.

10:07 - You know, I noticed that the people

10:09 who are drawn to you, including the Filipinos

10:12 who are attending there, many of them are young.

10:16 And what would it take to convince,

10:21 from your experience, what would it take

10:22 to convince younger Filipinos that agriculture's sexy

10:27 and, I guess, profitable?

10:29 - You know, there is this Young Challenge program

10:31 that we started in the A, this was funded out

10:35 of the initiative of Senator Aimee Marcos.

10:39 - Okay.

10:40 - You know, there is a, this is a year-long program

10:44 where they start with a province,

10:48 goes to the regional, and now national.

10:51 - I see.

10:51 - So they are given, I mean, their ideas are translated

10:56 into concept paper, and until they evolve

11:03 and can showcase a proof of concept,

11:14 that's an important program that can be upgraded again.

11:19 Another one I mentioned about startups.

11:21 - Yes, sir.

11:22 - You know, because there are many younger generation

11:25 who would like to really get busy, get engaged,

11:29 and again, the startup is necessary.

11:34 Enough funding for that is key.

11:36 Then, of course, there are existing collaboration

11:41 with Taiwan, with Israel, the government.

11:45 We are sending youngsters, the younger generation,

11:50 to stay there three months, or even six months,

11:55 so that when they come back, they should know,

11:59 there should be funding available so that their ideas

12:03 that they have learned can be converted

12:05 into agribusiness opportunities.

12:08 (speaking in foreign language)

12:12 By way of really enticing the younger generation

12:16 to come to do farming and agribusiness.

12:18 - Sir, you know, the government is now looking at K-12.

12:22 Is there a need to maybe revisit how we can inculcate

12:26 the love of agriculture in the land?

12:28 - I agree, I agree.

12:31 Elementary days, when I was then younger.

12:34 - Yes, sir.

12:34 - High school, (speaking in foreign language)

12:36 my gardening, (speaking in foreign language)

12:41 So we need to re-introduce again.

12:47 (speaking in foreign language)

12:51 School gardening as a subject,

12:53 and practiced already right there in there.

12:56 (speaking in foreign language)

13:00 The importance of innovation and technology.

13:05 So that as they grow and finish even their degree,

13:09 or not even having a degree,

13:12 but say a two year diploma course,

13:16 then they can now go straight to business.

13:18 - Right.

13:19 (speaking in foreign language)

13:23 - Right.

13:34 I think that's short-sighted.

13:37 - Okay.

13:38 - I believe we should have an equally important goal

13:41 of entrepreneurship.

13:43 - Interesting, yeah.

13:44 - You know, the data would indicate

13:46 almost every year we graduate 700 students,

13:51 but only 10 to 15% of them are gainfully employed.

13:57 So many of these graduates that we have every year

14:02 are unemployed, if not underemployed.

14:06 So the entrepreneurship paradigm is key

14:10 to really encouraging, and early enough,

14:13 even while they are in high school and college,

14:18 that that paradigm of entrepreneurship must start.

14:21 - And agriculture can supply that.

14:23 - Agriculture, yes.

14:31 (mouse clicking)

14:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]

‘Agripreneurship’ key to rice production, food security | Business and Politics

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