Reinventing Filipino agriculture | Business and Politics - video Dailymotion

The Manila Times

Reinventing Filipino agriculture | Business and Politics  Dr. William Dar, former Agriculture secretary, says that now is the time to reinvent Filipino agriculture. The current budget for agriculture in the Philippines is from 1.6 to 1.8%, while other countries  allocate about 3 to 6% of their national budget. Additional budget is needed for a commodity such as rice and food security.  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

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00:00 Sir, what's your outlook for the sector? I know we have, as you mentioned earlier, El

00:06 Nino coming up at the end of the year, lasting probably through the first quarter of next

00:11 year. We still have the war in Ukraine that is causing a lot of issues. But what's your

00:20 assessment and forecast for the end of the year and early next year?

00:26 With what is happening in rice today and with the presence of a leader in the Department

00:37 of Agriculture who is the President of the Republic, I think this is the time really

00:43 to have a good surgical approach to reinventing Philippine agriculture, to rejuvenating Philippine

00:52 agriculture so that the very long-term goals to say in rice have self-sufficiency, lahat

01:01 na yan, we have to harness everything possible towards that direction. The same is true for

01:11 other crops. We need to go for diversification. We need to have higher budget allocation.

01:17 Lamu Kling, high-value crops, which is the low-hanging fruit I was mentioning, only has

01:26 about a P2 billion budget, while the rice, of course, being a political commodity, that's

01:34 more than, that's about P40 billion budget. So the budget of the Department of Agriculture

01:43 is rice-centric. Why not? But let's see to it also that the budget for other commodity

01:50 industries like high-value agriculture, fisheries and aquatic resources, livestock for one,

01:57 ay dapat significant po ang pag-angat ng budget. And what's our level of budget today compared

02:05 to ASEAN member economies? The annual budget allocation for agriculture is only about 1.6

02:17 to 1.8 per cent of national budget. Other countries now are nasa 3 per cent to 6 per

02:25 cent na. So we need to consult. We are far behind. If we want really now is the chance

02:34 for President Marcos, being the leader in the department, to say, OK, by this time we

02:40 should be at this level. And of course you reform also the bureaucracy there in the department,

02:47 strengthen the bureaucracy so that they have to have the absorptive capacity to implement

02:54 properly additional budget for these various commodity industries. We need a strong leader.

03:01 We need, of course, many of the people there are dedicated. They need just to elevate their

03:09 game. They need to up their game. Because the challenge is there for agriculture to

03:15 still become the backbone of this country. So ganun po, let's rejuvenate Philippine agriculture.

03:23 And seeing to it that the right budget should be there, long-term, hindi lang short-term.

03:29 Of course we need to look at short-term. But even this time around, we need to plan the

03:36 long-term investments, as I was saying. Those public goods that must be there should be

03:45 the target of the investments for Philippine agriculture. I was mentioning about, again,

03:52 how can you have economies of scale? So the supporting mechanism, how can you have the

03:58 right level of infrastructure in terms of irrigation, farm-to-market roads, post-harvest

04:05 facilities, rainwater catchments, the dams? Ngayon na, itaman na natin ngayon lahat. Para

04:13 sa ganun, we are creating and ensuring the food requirements of our country in the future,

04:21 given global headwinds. Global headwinds will always be there from here and there. So anticipate

04:27 this. We need to have this anticipatory thinking and see to it that we start from day one,

04:38 investments along this long-term track. Sir, I'll put you on the spot a bit. As you

04:43 said correctly, the President, by taking on the DA portfolio, has elevated the profile

04:48 of the department. But some critics are also saying that he has other important things

04:53 to do, which are also bearing fruit now. His foreign trips are attracting a lot of attention

04:59 for the Philippines, and as a result of that and other things, they're saying that maybe

05:03 there should be a full-time agriculture secretary. You've been in that position before. Do you

05:12 have a take on it? Which is a better approach? You know, Clint, I was in favour initially

05:18 then that the President continue to be the Secretary of Agriculture because of the things

05:25 that I mentioned, that Philippine agriculture has been neglected, under-invested, and there's

05:34 little private sector engagement today in Philippine agriculture. So we want him to

05:40 succeed of course. Oh yes, of course. And this is the time for him to really restructure

05:48 the whole thing, increase the budget to a very significant level, and reform the bureaucracy,

05:55 and lead to a full-time Secretary of Agriculture. The President, we know he has many other concerns,

06:04 not only for agriculture. His time is limited. So what I'm saying here, after putting the

06:12 foundation for growing and developing Philippine agriculture, then he has to have a trusted,

06:21 loyal Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Are there other government policies that the

06:28 Marcos administration should be looking at? They have been talking about maybe the Land

06:33 Use Act. There are a number of programs to help MSMEs. Are there other things that maybe

06:41 deserve attention also that can benefit? I've been made about the Land Use Act. Every

06:47 administration wants that passed. But never, never. If he wants to put a legacy, and this

06:56 is one of them, let's have now a Land Use Act. Number two, the reforms that he wants

07:05 to make in Philippine agriculture, this is the time to go to the Congress, both House

07:11 and the Senate, to legislate. For example, the economy subscale consideration for farm

07:18 clustering and what are the support systems. We need to strengthen also the livestock group,

07:30 you know, contributing almost 18% of the GDP, and many more. So one thing that is to be

07:45 considered very important, the extension to the local governments under the local government

07:54 code. So supposedly the LGUs are in the front seat in terms of their food security considerations.

08:03 Every province, every city, every municipality. But sad to say, the orientation of many still

08:12 of the LGUs are still dependent on the national government. Although of course I would say

08:19 that there must be the delineation of responsibilities. The National Department of Agriculture would

08:29 do what I call the steering role. Steering, this is the direction. While the local government

08:36 units must do the rowing role. So you need to use all the bras, all the fatigue. But

08:45 with the national direction given by the Department of Agriculture. That interaction, that partnership

08:53 has to elevate. Today, there's so much to be desired.

09:00 So may nag sasabi na, if you look at long term food security, you need to bring back

09:08 the extension agents to the Department of Agriculture. So that really, there you can

09:15 pinpoint the responsibility to the Department of Agriculture when there is shortage or any

09:23 deficiency for that matter.

09:24 You think it's fragmented right now?

09:26 That's what I'm saying. It's so decentralized that the LGUs do not still give prime importance

09:36 to ensuring food security even for their constituencies. Of course, Puerto de los Buenos, there are

09:44 those LGUs that are doing their share. But many of the LGUs today are really not in that

09:52 mode, not in that mindset that they are the leaders of food security.

09:58 You mentioned clustering. The cooperatives have been there for a long time. How come

10:03 they haven't been successful? Is it more of a lack of capability? Or is it something else?

10:14 Cooperatives movement in the country is sorely lacking in terms of their having to show successes.

10:22 You know, I was starting to analyze the whole situation when I was there second time around.

10:30 One strategy that I was going to put in place is, depending on the scale of the cooperative's

10:39 operations, it would be good to have professional managers assigned. And this is where I see

10:47 the big billionaire cooperatives today in the country. They have professional managers.

10:53 We have some successful ones. Yes, there are successful stories in terms

10:56 of now billionaire cooperatives, Soro-Soro, Nueva Segovia.

11:02 Some of them won awards in Asia. So, professional management is key. Then,

11:10 elevate their game in terms of financial management, of savings, even investment, even R&D.

11:20 So, I'm not yet stopping in terms of going to build more cooperatives. But let's see

11:31 to it that the needed components are now in place. There are even ideas, why not bring

11:43 back the old bureau of cooperatives development, agriculture. Because more than ever, because

11:49 of farm clustering and towards cooperatives development, it needs to go hand in hand.

11:55 Although of course, they say there is the CDA, the Cooperative Development Authority,

12:01 but there are other priorities also of CDA. Para wala nang masabi na neglected ang agriculture,

12:11 bring or have a new bureau of agricultural cooperatives development.

12:16 So, do you think mindset has to change among government? I said the easiest solution is

12:24 to import, right? But we forget that we have the...

12:27 No, no, no. I think the government has been balancing its act. Number one priority always,

12:35 any government product matter is improving productivity or boosting productivity. Then,

12:42 whatever is the gap, then that's the time you look at ensuring food security by way

12:49 of importation. So, dapat naintindihan ng publiko 'yon. Boosting local production is

12:57 key and that's why you need to apply science and technology. You need to have this new

13:03 mechanization na lahat po na bagay na maipataasang ani. Of course, capacity building, engaging

13:11 the youth, ang dami pong gagawin para maitaas natin ng productivity. Again, emphasizing

13:17 the importance of science and technology. Otherwise, we'll be left behind if we don't

13:22 accelerate our research and development as well.

13:26 Sir, it's always a pleasure talking to you as usual. I learn so much. But before we go,

13:31 would you like to leave our audience with a brief message?

13:34 Now, we are hoping this time around with President Marcos at the helm as our President first

13:42 and now as Secretary of Agriculture, this is the time really to see to it that the needed

13:49 reforms would be in place and elevate the budgetary support as we are now seeing. But

13:58 we need more. We need to have more budgets for the high-value agriculture, for livestock

14:05 and including fisheries. Rice agriculture today is properly resourced. And so we need

14:13 also to balance the budget to be given to the agriculture sector.

14:19 So agribusiness is the way forward. That mindset has also to be cascaded all down there with

14:27 the farmers. They are agripreneurs. That's the bottom line. We need to have that mindset

14:34 of being an agripreneur.

14:36 [Silence]

Reinventing Filipino agriculture | Business and Politics

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