One of the campaign promises of President Duterte is to improve the income of farmers and fishermen and lift them out of poverty. According to a report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released in 2014, fishermen, farmers and children consistently posted the highest poverty incidences at 39.2 percent and 38.3 percent, respectively, among the nine basic sectors in the Philippines. Using 2012 data, the PSA said these figures are higher than the general population’s poverty incidence, estimated at 25.2 percent.
The President’s economic team understands that making the Philippine agriculture sector more competitive is crucial to achieving the government’s goal of cutting poverty. Boosting farm production would not only increase farmers’ income, as the availability of more rice, pork and other agricultural products would make food more affordable to the poor. This would then allow them to channel their meager income to other essentials, such as the education of their children. The poor spend about half of their income for food alone.
In its economic blueprint, dubbed as the Philippine Development Plan, one of the strategies identified by the Duterte administration to make the Philippine agriculture sector more competitive is to “update Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones [SAFDZs] as bases for identifying investment areas”. But according to agribusiness expert Pablito M. Villegas, the set up of these SAFDZs should be at the core of the Duterte administration’s plan to enhance the competitiveness of Philippine agriculture.
Republic Act 8435, or the Agricultural Fisheries and Modernization Act, referred to SAFDZs as areas within the so-called Network of Protected Areas for Agricultural and Agro-industrial Development identified for production, agro-processing and marketing activities “to help develop and modernize, with the support of government, the agriculture and fisheries sector in an environmentally and socioculturally sound manner”. Villegas said the government is practically violating the law, which was enacted in 1997, because it has yet to put up these SAFDZs.
Instead of pouring billions of pesos into specific commodities, such as rice and corn, Villegas added the Duterte administration should seriously consider funding the identification and setup of these SAFDZs where certain crops could be grown and processed into other products. Factories within the SAFDZs would ensure that farmers would have a ready market for their produce, thereby reducing wastage and cutting costs for transporting their crops. This strategy would also allow the Philippines to diversify its exports.
The President has promised the Department of Agriculture (DA) more funds next year. The DA should consider channeling these additional resources into setting up SAFDZs. The government could use a map crafted by the DA, which aims to help farmers with crop planning in identifying these zones. Addressing the root causes of the problems in Philippine agriculture require long-term solutions, not short-term palliatives. Following the law may be a good starting point.
