By Johnny F. Goloyugo / Correspondent
REAL action is needed in addressing climate change in agriculture, because “the Department of Agriculture’s [DA] response has been mostly on paper,” a consultant of the System’s Wide Climate Change Office (SW-CCO) said on Friday.
SW-CCO consultant Dr. Eliseo Ponce, former director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), said the institutionalization of the office is needed “to provide continuous focus and attention to climate change in agriculture and fisheries development.”
Ponce also said the key provision of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, or AFMA (Republic Act 8435) “to plan agricultural development by landscapes, rather than by commodity, to better address climate change and sustainable development issues has to be implemented, not later than 2017, to achieve better resilience in agriculture livelihoods and communities in the years to come.”
Former President Fidel V. Ramos signed AFMA into law in December 1997, specifically to address poverty alleviation and social equity, food security, rational use of resources, global competitiveness, sustainable development, people empowerment and income profitability, especially for farmers and fisher folks.
Ponce noted the current DA rationalization plans “falls short of the principles enunciated by the Economic Policy Research and Advocacy [EPRA] presented in 2006 during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and rationalization plan proposed by then Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban.”
“Conflict of interest still persists in the current system, and there is no function specialization to achieve effectiveness and efficiency,” he said.
Dr. Ponce also noted the serious weakening of the DA regional field offices in terms of technical expertise that will enable them to provide robust and reliable technical support services to local government units.
He suggested the passage of a “DA Bureaucracy Restructuring Bill,” along the principles advanced by the EPRA, headed by former National Economic and Development Authority Director General Cielito F. Habito.
The EPRA principles called for, among others, a simplified national agriculture bureaucracy, specialization to achieve efficiency and avoid conflict of interest, provide appropriate staff balance to ensure systems efficiency and client responsiveness, decentralize the provision of national public goods by assigning administrative responsibilities to the lowest level of governance capable of carrying out responsibilities competently and improve the quality of governance.
“It should be a priority bill. The organizational structure will continue to negatively affect to a high degree the DA’s effectiveness in providing national leadership in agriculture development if not passed soon,” he stressed.
Ponce also cautioned against hurriedly conceived programs for political purposes.
“Limit pronouncements to key principles that will define the government’s programs in the pursuit of inclusive agriculture development to achieve presumptive President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s vision of the country.”
“Get to know the bureaucracy and its existing programs. Know its strengths and limitations by talking to different stakeholders and experts who have studied the DA over the years. In that way, programs are well thought of and highly consistent to the principles of inclusive development, which Mr. Duterte has publicly announced,” Ponce added.