A long time coming

The idea has long been talked about, suggested and promoted by various individuals and groups, particularly former secretary Manny Piñol, but nobody in government or Malacañang was willing to pick up on the suggestion that the country should adopt solar powered stand-alone irrigation systems.  

 According to a source, the resistance to the idea was not about the technology but the fact that the face to the idea was secretary Piñol and that the direct beneficiary would be an Israeli company also associated with Piñol. My response was: So what? If nobody else had the idea, the technology and the company to back it up, so what if it was Piñol?  

 Unfortunately, in politics people have long memories and rear guards that make sure those who did not align with them don’t get support or recognition. Fortunately, there are other groups who believe in the stand-alone solar powered irrigation pumps, such as the Federation of Free Farmers that also has a former secretary of agriculture as chairman, namely Leonardo Montemayor who, since the presidential campaign, expressed his calibrated and hopeful support for PBBM.  

As reported in The Philippine STAR by Bella Cariaso, the FFF recently invited President Bongbong Marcos to their 70th Anniversary and along with the invitation, they also sent “proposals for a nationwide solar-powered irrigation program, establishment of a farm-to-market digital integrated backbone as well as an electronic commodity exchange system to enable farmers to sell their products directly to buyers in urban areas.” 

A week later, PBBM attended the anniversary and ordered a review of the proposals submitted. That outcome has sparked hope among federation members and rice farmers in general and proves that Leony Montemayor was right in his hopeful view of PBBM. Truth be told, PBBM has slowly but surely been moving the ball towards the goal. He has frowned on our dependency in imports, called for a stop to pass-through tolls on agricultural products, etc.  

Aside from the long overdue adoption and implementation of the stand-alone solar irrigation system, the idea of an integrated, government regulated agricultural commodity exchange was supposed to have happened back in the 70’s during the time of Ferdinand Sr. under the FTI-KADIWA system. In a time when Shopee, Lazada, Grab and LaLa-Move can sell and deliver products to many parts in the archipelago, the Department of Agriculture and the DTI should be able to do even more for their stakeholders. 

For decades now, farmers and backyard livestock producers have been at the mercy of middlemen and traders who resort to nickel and dime, baratan of farmgate prices. Many hog raisers have to call three to four different raisers, market vendors and veterinarians just to form an average price for pork. If the national government can actually set up an online “board” for official farmgate prices arrived at 12 hours before posting via consultation with stakeholders, backyard raisers might just have a better chance at profitability. 

During the controversial “rice price inflation,”government officials as well as some legislators had no second thoughts about reducing the import tariff on rice to lower prices. That was strongly opposed by farmers and the DOF, which is why it was denied.  

But here’s the catch — it revealed that if the government needed to or had to, import tariffs can be reduced or suspended for the greater good or if beneficial to consumers. I confess that I am being simplistic in my assumption, but such a solution should be implemented for imported raw materials needed for the production of animal feeds and agricultural inputs.  

By removing all add-on tariff or taxes to agricultural inputs and raw materials, it will substantially bring down the cost of feeds and agricultural inputs which will lead to more production, lower prices for consumers, thereby increasing over-all consumption. The government can get back what it sacrificed up front through tax revenues on income and profits on the back end along with VAT. The idea is to stimulate production, create jobs and strengthen local agricultural production not importation. 

In line with discouraging excessive importation, PBBM might want to form a presidential task force to investigate how cold storage facilities that were built to help cooperatives store harvested products ended up in the hands of importers and traders to the point that a law had to be passed making it illegal for cooperatives to “sublet” cold storage units to traders and importers. The investigation and regulation should not only be over coops and private groups but should also investigate DA officials who allegedly benefit from those arrangements as actual owners/operators of these facilities. 

Overall, it is very encouraging to hear the President order the review of the “reasonable” proposals of the Federation of Free Farmers. While PBBM is at it, the President should really ask the hard questions on what the DA and DILG have actually done to control the spread of the ASF virus, the extent of real training and certification of LGU personnel for quarantine and check points as well as real surveillance. PBBM should also challenge the speed and equality in compensation for those who reported being hit by ASF.  

No less than Senator Cynthia Villar confirmed that many hog raisers no longer report or admit that they have or had ASF incidents in their piggeries because the government is too slow or remiss in compensating ASF victims. Meanwhile, the DA has been too conservative, almost stingy, in sharing news and developments regarding the US-Vietnam developed ASF vaccine, which causes many former raisers to stop from restarting their farms. Keep pushing the ball, Mr. Secretary.