Philippines on wrong path to agro-industrialization (part 2)

(Last of two parts)

Department of Agriculture effort

MANILA, Philippines — The DA is already putting a huge chunk of its resources into modernizing the sector through rice hybridization and modern farm equipment loans to farmers to ensure better yield and productivity.

“We will aggressively implement a hybridization program this year, which targets 600,000 hectares, solar and small irrigation projects, a national mechanization program to cut post-harvest losses, and an easy access financing program to allow farmers to buy better seeds and sufficient farm inputs,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said.

“The target is to increase national yield to six metric tons per hectare, per harvest, which would produce enough rice for Filipinos over the next five years,” he said.

As the government plans to transform more lands into industrial sites, hybridization is now at the top of the list of solutions to manage rice and food production in the midst of industrialization.

“By simply planting hybrid rice in our farms, we can increase harvest and income. We don’t even have to expand production areas. It will also result to more optimum harvest and better quality and quantity of rice,” Piñol said.

Furthermore, the government is beefing up its mechanization program that would reduce post-harvest losses in the farm sector to help the country achieve 100 percent rice self-sufficiency.

The country’s lack of access to efficient farm equipment and facilities has a great effect on the national post-harvest loss level, which averages 16 percent annually.

This translates to about three million metric tons (MT) of rice loss per year, which could have been more than enough to cover the shortage of the country in terms of sufficiency.

The Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) aims to increase the level of mechanization to four horsepower per hectare this year to put the country at par with its ASEAN neighbors.

An increase in farm mechanization could make Filipino farmers as competitive as their counterparts in Thailand and Vietnam.

How to really do it?

Experts believe the country’s full potential has not been reached as agro-industrialization would need unifying strategies that would involve various departments. However, the government right now appears to lack the sense of interagency cooperation needed to address the critical agricultural value chain.

“If we adopt entrepreneurship as the framework, then you have to have a unified agenda for all the various stakeholders of that ecosystem. But now, they [departments] do their own thing,” Dar said.

“It is as if the subsystems are independent of each other. We need to have an agriculture entrepreneurship ecosystem where everything should be interconnected, and we do not have that right now,” he said.

Furthermore, value-adding and inclusive agri-business is the model that economists believe to be effective, the way to go, and the approach that will solve poverty and ensure income and economic security.

“We have a lot of work to do because if you just measure the value added ratio, we are very far from our neighbors. You have to go back to what really is your objective. If it is to reduce poverty, then you go back to productivity and diversification,” Dy said.

“If you have diversified agriculture investors, they will provide more permanent quality jobs. What is our strategy? Is it poverty alleviation or self sufficiency, the latter is just on the supply side, poverty alleviation is on the income and buying side. It has to be a broad base of agriculture development,” he said.

Citing an example in Piddig in Ilocos Norte, Dy said the government should start considering and implementing new business models such as farm consolidation to make rice farming more productive.

The idea was started by Piddig mayor Eddie Guillen several years ago, where in land was managed collectively, and farmers get their fair share of dividends based on how big the areas they own.

Dy said production almost doubled to 6.5 MT per hectare due to farm mechanization, fertilization, inputs, and modern equipment, and harvest losses were reduced.

“Their own municipality was the one that pushed for that, but how many mayors are like that in the Philippines?” he said.

Dy maintains that higher productivity of traditional and new crops would really pave the way for the build up of agro-industrialization as higher volume of production would mean more raw materials for the industry.

“Modernizing agriculture is really related to productivity. When you modernize, you increase productivity, you diversify, and when you do that, you develop agro-industries in the value chain,” Dy said.

“Unless you do something about your productivity, who will put up your factories?” he asked.

Dar, for his part, urge the government to boost incentives so investments will be ready for the creation of such industries, especially in the rural areas where majority of production are located.

“That is the meaning of agro-industrialization. You produce but you produce enough and have surpluses to go to various industries for value adding,” Dar said.

Agro-industrialization and employment

Modernizing the agriculture sector would also mean that majority of the work will depend more on machines and technologies, which will, in turn, displace farm workers.

“And that is where you need to handle the issue holistically, there will be loss of labor due to mechanization and that is inevitable. And that is also why you need to retool the farmers for other industries like agribusiness, processing and rural enterprises,” Dar said.

“Because of mechanization, they work less, but they earn more, what do you want?That is simply the process of development,” Dy said.

The government also continues to face challenges in implementing modernization in the agriculture sector primarily because of the capacity and willingness of farmers to adopt such technological advancements.

Dar believes there is a need to enhance social values among farmers and fisher folk by making them realize the importance of education, both from the traditional education system and trainings provided by government agencies and non-government organizations to help people in the farming sector.

“We should include the active participation of stakeholders, most especially poor farmers and fisherfolk in identifying and defining problems and the solutions that should result in economic and social benefits to them through their collective action,” Dar said.

“This entails undertaking dialogues and interaction with them at the barangay level, and social preparation of beneficiaries though community-organized activities. The objective is to make them the lead or main actors of programs and projects, and not mere recipients who are usually told what to do by so-called ‘experts’,” he added.

A good jumpstart but, not enough

Even if the government is bent on realizing a better agriculture sector in the next five years, it seems that history might just repeat itself if it keeps on doing what it currently does, and not look at the bigger picture.

“In terms of agricultural transformation, I don’t think they can achieve it to the fullest in this administration. If you can have an intensive start, then at least you start the process. The next administration would just have to follow,” Dy said.

Dar is pessimistic the Philippines will see significant improvements during Duterte’s term.

“I will be very happy [if they achieve it], but realistically speaking, given the way they are doing and their pace, I’m still very pessimistic. With what we see today, the way they implement, and the way they partner, I’m very pessimistic,” Dar said.

“I have not seen the coordination on the ground. I do not see it in the plan, I do not see the vision,” he added.

As to when the Philippines might see a truly industrialized sector, Dar said it could only be when there is better governance with a visionary leader.

“Agro-industrialization remains hanging in this administration but I will never lose hope because I believe that that is the future of this country,” he said.