Gov’t aims to hike farm output by 5-8%

The Department of Agriculture (DA) aims to increase farm productivity by five to eight percent over the next five years.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said in a recent speech before members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the department is intensifying efforts to raise farm productivity by creating solutions to perennial problems such as lack of access to credit, inadequate infrastructure support and policy measures that often favor big agribusiness over poor farmers and fisherfolks.

"It is our intention to increase agricultural productivity by adopting the best systems and technologies available thereby fulfilling our mandate to create more jobs, attain food security and increase farmers’ income," Lorenzo said.

Lorenzo noted that one of the DA’s priorities is to provide farmers and fisherfolks better access to financing.

He cited the DA line agency Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corp.(Quedancor) as one such channel where farmers’ groups can avail of credit at concessional rates.

Last year, Quedancor, through its Self Reliant Team (SRT) program, extended loans worth P4.35 billion to about 500,000 borrowers who are mostly small farmers, fishers and rural entrepreneurs.

Aside from Quedancor, Lorenzo said the DA will persuade commercial banks to increase their agricultural lending.

Banks, while mandated by law to set a portion of their loanable funds to the high-risk agriculture sector, are able to skirt this because the law provides for options that enable them to comply with such law without directly lending to the sector.

The DA chief said that if banks are more supportive, the chances of surpassing last year’s 3.77-percent growth in agriculture will be higher.

In the first quarter alone this year, the sector already posted an impressive 8.16-percent growth, the highest in 15 years.

He also noted that the continued increase in agricultural productivity has broken the boom-and-bust cycle which characterized Philippine agriculture.

"Whereas before, annual agricultural growth see-sawed between seven percent in years of good weather to negative six percent in years of bad weather - thus averaging a measly one to two percent in the last 25 years of the last century - the last five years have given the agriculture sector a stable three to four percent yearly growth," he said.

Lorenzo cited the DA’s accomplishment last year where the country achieved 94-percent sufficiency in rice. This year, the DA target is to achieve 97 to 100-percent sufficiency.