What we are not told at press briefings; our farmers need help

I attended the Chinese ambas-sador’s briefing on the state visit of President Aquino to China last Wednesday at the embassy hoping to get a spicy story. There were many leading questions from reporters but the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao is ever the careful diplomat fluent in English. He steered clear of controversy. His answers to tricky questions were so careful and restrained you’d think there was no problem at all. He said pointedly that despite all contrary reports in media, China and the US are friends.

Rivals, maybe, but not enemies. We should keep it that way and stop the warmongering. Maybe so. But the news the day before was that Philippines and Vietnam received warships to beef up their navies as they face tensions with China over disputed islands, raising the prospect of a deepening arms race in the South China Sea.

The question of the ownership of Spratlys was dismissed in three words: the two countries would agree to disagree but it will be mentioned. That is the question­ ­–how will the issue be presented by President Aquino and how will Chinese President Hu Jintao respond?

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Ambassador Liu says the President’s visit will be one of the largest contingents of a state visit of any other leader to China. The visit will focus on the development program between the two countries began by the Arroyo administration. This was sidelined by the May 2010 elections and its partisan politics. Let us hope that President Aquino will set aside politics for the sake of the country. He should push for the development program as a seamless effort of the Philippine government for continuity and stability. For example it would be good if he strikes a balance between the sticky Spratlys problem and development with China’s aid that we need so badly? 

With 300 businessmen in tow you can imagine the potential for a chaotic free for all when they vie on who gets what for “economic and joint cooperation”. Of the many areas for cooperation, the most crucial and exciting to the country are agribusiness, mining and infrastructure.

My question would have required a longer and nuanced answer that would have had no place in the press briefing. He had told the media present to confine their questions on the state visit and bilateral relations between the two countries.

I wanted to ask the question on China’s inevitable ascendancy as a superpower and as the leading country in Asia.  What steps are being taken so it can assume the role responsibly to enable the region to prosper and advance. Will it follow the trajectory of the long predicted Asian Century? That will depend on how China exercises its leadership in the region. President Aquino will also have to be more judicious in making provocative statements.

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Clarita Lapus, the indefatigable lady behind Mama Sita is an old friend. I have seen her cart along her mixes of sinigang, adobo, kare-kare in her trips to European cities when I still lived in London. I met her again when I was in Brussels and my late husband was ambassador. They also had a fashion show and a show of Philippine dances and native costumes.

At that time she was struggling to develop markets abroad for Mama Sita products. I wondered if she would succeed with a near impossible task. Well, just recently, I found out that her plodding through the years has finally borne fruit. (She continually complains how little help food producers and exporters get from the government. )

It was a pleasure to receive an invitation a few weeks ago to the groundbreaking of a ten-story building for Marigold Manufacturing Corp., the family corporation behind the Mama Sita products.

Kim Lapus, its chief operating officer, says that with the building it would increase its capacity four-fold. Their wide variety of sauces and mixes have become staple food with Filipinos abroad - sinigang, menudo, kare-kare and the rest that enabled me to cook Filipino food for my family when I lived in London.

With the expansion of Mama Sita’s manufacturing facilities - they need more agricultural products. Their raw materials come from individual farmers and cooperatives in different parts of the country.

But they cannot meet the demand for the raw materials. Farmers have to be helped. Among the spice crops that they use are siling labuyo (the tiny ones because they have the best flavor), onion, garlic, gabi, black pepper, achuete, tomato, ginger, peanut and sour guava. She said sometimes they have to import peppers. Most of the peanuts they use for the kare-kare mix are imported from Georgia and India.

They would source their raw materials locally if there were enough supplies. Achuete is sourced locally at the rate of 10 tons a month. The requirement would increase four times when the new facilities start operating in 2013.

According to Dr. Bart Lapus, chairman of Marigold Manufacturing Corp., the company will soon produce tomato ketchup and tomato paste. Prospective producers will be from Northern Luzon such as Pangasinan and surrounding provinces.

During the groundbreaking she teased her military guests “when not fighting insurgents, the soldiers could grow achuete, ginger, native guava, gabi, black pepper, sour tamarind and other crops in the army camps where thousands of hectares are available for agricultural production.”

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I have myself become a farmer and learning how to grow organic products. Not easy but as another friend in farming, Louie Tabing told me “just keep at it.” Louie was invited by the Chinese government to help set up community radio for the farmers. Why China I asked? Do it here.

“Kaugnay sa pagsasaka, the present administration has given a huge budget to DSWD and in effect cut DA’s funds for R&D and rural credit. Umaaray ang mga magsasaka at ang agricultural sector. In China government subsidizes farmers’ implements and activities. A farmer who puts up a green house gets 70 percent subsidy and 30 percent loan. R&D is given a generous budget from government. Sa atin pabaligtad. Ang gustong makapag-alaga ng baka o kambing walang makuhang capital.”

“Instead of dole-outs in the cities where they cannot find jobs the Aquino government should increase opportunities for livelihood in the countryside so rural people stay in the farms rather than settle sa ilalim ng mga tulay at sa mga river banks. Credit for small farmers to buy farm implements is hardly available. If a small rural entrepreneur finds credit, the interest is 12 percent or higher,” Tabing said.