Agriculture Secretary William Dar
MANILA – The Department of Agriculture was banking on 2020 to be a rebound year after it experienced a major setback last year due to “birth pains" of the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
“The year opened with rice prices at stable levels, inflation in check, and the full implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), a component under RTL, in full swing. The ASF outbreaks were also manageable through heightened quarantine measures nationwide,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, Dar said a series of unfortunate events occurred, “quite literally–beyond the control of man.”
Taal Volcano eruption
The country’s most active volcano has swept 15,970 hectares of agricultural areas when it erupted in January.
Coffee, cacao, pineapple, rice, coconut, and other high value crops in Calabarzon were damaged costing PHP3.06 billion, while the fisheries sector sustained PHP1.6 billion in losses.
The DA shouldered crop insurance, livelihood, seeds and seedlings, and farm machinery, among other donations, to the affected farmers and fisherfolk worth some PHP2.708 million.
DA said this is on top of the PHP160 million worth of interventions given to farm communities affected by the eruption.
African swine fever
The spread of the African swine fever (ASF) has penetrated parts of Mindanao despite the elevated quarantine measures.
DA said it engineered a multi-pronged approach to prevent and control the disease as well as the recovery of the industry.
“In testing, specifically, the government is making significant headway with the soon-to-be-launched locally developed test kit which has greater detection rate, and our recent opening of a modern animal disease diagnostic facility in Tarlac City,” Dar said.
Dar reported that the hog industry incurred PHP56 billion in losses due to ASF.
With a total budget of PHP280 million, the facilities will be put up in Magalang, Pampanga; in Tanauan and San Jose, Batangas; and in Malagos, Davao.
Record-high rice production
Despite the pandemic, the series of strong typhoons, and low farm gate prices, rice production even increased by 0.6 percent to 7.54 million metric tons in the fourth quarter compared to last year’s output of 7.49 million metric tons.
Around 322,041 metric tons of palay (unmilled rice) were lost due to the typhoons, equivalent to eight days of rice consumption.
Yield per hectare went up by 1.48 percent to 4.13 metric tons from 4.07 metric tons.
Rice production would have been higher at 19.86 MMT if it were not for the loss of 419,560 MT of palay due to the typhoons that hit the country.
For 2021, a conservative production of 20.48 MMT to a high of 20.66 MMT is targeted.
Corn production, on the other hand, increased by 1.2 percent to 1.68 million metric tons from 1.66 MMT recorded in 2019.
Yield per hectare went up 0.67 percent to 2.99 MT from 2.97 MT.
The gross value added of the agriculture sector went up 4.1 percent to PHP404.6 billion during the fourth quarter.
Food resiliency action plan
DA imposed a list of suggested retail prices (SRP) for agri-fishery commodities that will be covered by the price freeze.
“The action helped prevent spikes in prices of basic farm commodities during the protracted community quarantine. The agency also strengthened its Bantay Presyo Task Force to monitor prices of basic agricultural commodities, enforce the SRP policy, and go against cartels, hoarders, and profiteers,” Dar added.
DA also implemented the Duterte administration’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” program or “Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat (ALPAS) Laban sa Covid-19” program to benefit farmers, fishers and consumers.
Other projects that will be funded under this program are additional palay procurement fund of the National Food Authority; expanded SURE Aid and recovery project; expanded agriculture insurance project; social amelioration for farmers and farm workers; upscaling of KADIWA ni Ani at Kita direct marketing program; integrated livestock and corn resiliency project; expanded small ruminants and poultry project; coconut-based diversification project; fisheries resiliency project; revitalized urban agriculture and gulayan project; corn for food project; and strategic communications project.
Credit programs with flexible payment scheme
The Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) responded to the financing needs of small farmers and fishers (SFFs) and agri and fishery-based micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to motivate upward movement in the industry despite the challenges.
To entice the youth and start-ups, the ACPC introduced Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA) and the AgriNegosyo (ANYO) Loan Program early this year.
In April 2020, it implemented the SURE Aid and Recovery Project (SURE COVID-19) for SFFs and MSEs whose livelihoods, agribusiness operations, and incomes were affected by the health crisis.
SURE COVID-19 is a component of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1) and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2).
Dar said ACPC’s 104 partner lending conduits released a total of PHP2.03 billion to 48,375 SFFs and 148 MSEs.
In addition, some PHP444.30 million loans were granted to 28,259 SFFs affected by the ASF, Taal Volcano eruption and typhoons; PHP151.21 million loans to 5,468 SFFs under the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) using program collections as revolving credit funds (reflows); and PHP19.50 million loans to four MSEs/Farmers & Fisherfolk Organizations (FFOs) under Capital Loan Easy Access (CLEA) and Agricultural Machineries and Equipment (AFME) Loan Programs which remained operational until subsumed under ANYO.
Engaging the IPs
As a way to hit two birds in one stone, Dar also kicked off the initiative to transform portions of vast ancestral lands nationwide into food production areas.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said about 7.7 million hectares are owned by the Indigenous Peoples (IP), or about 26 percent of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares.
As of 2019, the NCIP has issued 243 certificates of ancestral domain titles, with a total land area of 5.7 million hectares and a total of 1.3 million IPs as rights holders.
“Aside from profitable types of vegetables -- like onion, string beans, potato, carrots, pineapple, garlic, cauliflower, and watermelon -- our IPs can grow cacao, coffee, abaca or black pepper, or they may go into raising native pigs and free-range chicken. Other crops include bitter melon, asparagus, cabbage, cassava, garlic, ginger, mungbean, papaya, peanut, sweet potato, and tomato,” Dar said.
Coco levy fund
One of the welcoming reports this year, Dar said, was Congress’ passage on the third and final reading of House Bill 8136 or the proposed Coconut Farmers and Development Trust Fund Act.
DA is optimistic that the bicameral conference committee will swiftly approve the measure seeking to create a trust fund for the country’s coconut farmers before both chambers of Congress go on holiday recess this Christmas season.
Digital agriculture
Meanwhile, DA partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to launch Deliver-E, a modernized marketing process connecting food producers to consumers sans the unnecessary trading layers.
To help farmers recover, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) released about PHP347 million to help rebuild the lives and livelihoods of insured farmers and fisherfolk who have been heavily affected by extreme weather disturbances that hit the country.
The payment represents the initial payment on the PHP1.5-billion worth of estimated damages reported by PCIC’s clients in PCIC’s seven administrative regions.
Positive outlook
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the Philippines recorded a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate of -11.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020, compared with the previous quarter’s -16.9 percent.
The industries that contributed the least to the GDP were construction, -39.8 percent; real estate and ownership of dwellings, -22.5 percent; and manufacturing, -9.7 percent.
On the other hand, the top three industries that posted positive rates were: financial and insurance activities, 6.2 percent; public administration and defense, compulsory social activities, 4.5 percent; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing, at 1.2 percent.
It was the same picture in the second and first quarters of 2020.
GDP dropped by 16 percent in the second quarter of 2020, the lowest recorded quarterly growth, from the 1981 base year.
The main contributors to the decline were: manufacturing, -21.3 percent; construction, -33.5 percent; and transportation and storage, -59.2 percent.
Among the major economic sectors, only agriculture, forestry, and fishing increased with 1.6 percent growth.
Industry and services both decreased during the period by 22.9 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.
For 2021, the DA targets to attain a "conservative" 2.5 percent growth.
"The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the global and national economy. But no matter what happens, people must eat. For this reason alone, agriculture registered positive contributions to the economy compared to the other movers of the economy such as construction, real estate, and manufacturing," Dar said. (PNA)
