The government must institute various reforms to boost the productivity of the local farm sector and make it resilient against climate change, an expert said.
Dennis de la Torre from the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance and the House of Representatives Special Committee on Climate Change said during the opening of the 28th National Rice Research and Development Conference at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) that there are many “challenges” that hinder the agriculture sector to become a key development investment area.
Policy reforms should be rolled out to direct the focus of government institutions, the private sector and foreign investors to agriculture, he said.
De la Torre said there is a need to review the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 and the Agri-Agra Act of 2009, which both have provisions on finance mobilization.
The Agri-Agra law authorizes the bank sector to devote 25 percent of their loanable money to agriculture. However, de la Torre said studies show that banks do not comply with the law and are just willing to pay fines.
“We should look at our farmers as potential targets for investment in human capital,” de la Torre said in a statement. He also said the Department of Social Welfare and Development should consider skills in agriculture as a condition for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a Conditional Cash-Transfer Program by the government that aims to address poverty.
Meanwhile, de la Torre said the Philippine government should “carefully” plan how it can mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
Citing data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, de la Torre said the annual mean temperature in the Philippines projects that there would be a widespread warming in most parts of the country by 2020 and 2050.
He said the government should consider the historical and projected data in its efforts against climate change.
“That’s what climate change is forcing us to do—to think better, to design, and plan better,” he said.
According to him, there have recently been growing concerns on saline intrusion and the projected rise in the sea level that can affect coastal integrity. This serves as a threat to agricultural production near the coastlines, he said.
De la Torre said research institutions like PhilRice must continuously develop saline-tolerant crop varieties to address these concerns.
The PhilRice said it has developed saline-tolerant varieties, such as the NSIC Rc184, which has a maximum yield of 6.3 tons per hectare; NSIC Rc186, with a maximum yield of 4.2 tons per hectare; NSIC Rc186, with 3.8 tons per hectare maximum yield; NSIC Rc190 which has 5.1 tons per hectare maximum yield; and NSIC Rc290, with a maximum yield of 5.7 tons per hectare.
De la Torre, who is the former chief on research and policy development of the Climate Change Commission, also said the quality irrigation infrastructure could be compromised if they fail to resist environmental threats. He said implementing agencies would then need to reinstitute innovations, which would lead to a “pain point” in funding.
The 28th National Rice Research and Development Conference is annually hosted by the PhilRice and gathers around 500 researchers, academicians, students, farmers and extension workers from all over the country.