(PNA file photo)
ANTIPOLO CITY – Local food producers on Friday said they found it reassuring that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. devoted a huge portion of his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) to matters directly related to the agriculture sector.
Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAFI), told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that past presidents did not focus on the plethora of issues surrounding the key sector the way Marcos did in his 1 hour and 11-minutes-long speech.
“We are really happy because he (the president) managed to stress just how important the agriculture sector is to his administration. In the past we were not given so much attention,” he said.
Fausto noted that PCAFI’s membership is particularly encouraged that Marcos singled out smugglers, hoarders and price manipulators and vowed to have appropriate charges filed against them.
He pointed out that legitimate investors in food production are often the victims of smuggling, hoarding and price manipulation, which is why “we would like to see the government do more than just file charges. They should not stop until those behind them (illegal activities) are put behind bars.”
Fausto cited as an example the supposedly rampant smuggling of agricultural goods, which often creates a supply glut, and competes in the local market to the detriment of domestic food growers.
PCAFI’s membership includes such organizations as United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA), Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (Pro-Pork), Philippine Egg Board Association (Egg Board), as well commercial fishing industry stakeholders, among others.
Fausto said PCAFI also favors a review of the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 8550) in hopes of redrawing the borders between small-scale fishing and commercial fishing grounds, a proposal to which Marcos has indicated some flexibility.
He explained that current government policy dictates that municipal waters extend up to 15 kilometers from shore, and is thus reserved for small-scale fishing activities, while in reality, small fishers “rarely venture beyond 5 kilometers from land.”
Fausto said that PCAFI’s members in the commercial fishing sector are appealing for the president’s go-ahead to cast their nets in portions of municipal waters not often reached by small fishers.
For his part, Edwin Chen, past president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (Pro-Pork) and incumbent PCAFI director, also welcomed the enhanced focus on the agriculture sector, particularly on livestock growers.
During his SONA, the president mentioned that tighter bio-security measures would be implemented in response to a recent outbreak of livestock diseases like African swine fever (ASF) and avian influenza (bird flu).
In a recent development, the DA has allocated some PHP2.3 billion under its 2023 budget for the establishment of three Cold Examination Facility in Agriculture (CEFA) centers (one each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao), to serve as border inspection facilities for agricultural imports.
Chen noted, however, that the DA’s soon-to-rise CEFA center in Luzon will be built in Angat, Bulacan, which is “about 50 kilometers away from the Port of Manila.”
He expressed preference for a border inspection facility that is closer to where imported meat is offloaded.
The CEFA initiative is intended to prevent the transmission of diseases carried by agricultural imports while also curbing smuggling. (PNA)
