WE could not agree more with the chorus now being said about agriculture. Even the business sectors are calling for more government support for agriculture. Our call at the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) has always been to go back and recover our agriculture sector.
The Covid-19 pandemic is giving us the opportunity to reboot our economic structure to align with the resources of our people. While it reflected a contraction in the first quarter, this sector was the least affected by the grim unemployment data for the April round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS). This suggests that it will be able to continue agricultural activity with least retrofitting required as against its industrial and services counterpart. Besides, anecdotal evidences have shown that the sector actually produced outputs but encountered severe logistical bottlenecks in mid-March.
Despite these, however, government has yet to make clear policy pronouncements on how to revitalize and reorganize agriculture so that it can provide economic support in this challenging times. Even the Balik Probinsiya Program is like a silent endorsement that countryside agriculture can protect jobs in this pandemic. The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lined up a number of programs to assist the sector such as the SURE COVID, an interest free lending program for MSMEs in agriculture; Financial subsidy for rice farmers; Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita, an organized marketing program to address logistics issues; Urban Agriculture, free seeds distribution for urban dwellers. If you put this altogether, they seem to be independent programs addressing the situation in the short term. We understand that the DA is doing its best trying to manage wide ranging issues for the sector. We would like to contribute to having a cohesive overall agricultural vision and action. I had some discussions with farmers in the last two weeks and I believe some of their views can help.
Firstly, agriculture is not only about food, but also about nutrition and good health. There is a serious need to have agricultural production for the nutritional needs of our people. It addresses also our issues on malnutrition, stunting and wasting—critical to ensure a healthy work force in the future. Hence, we need to change the mindsets of those who go to agriculture as an enterprise. It must first address the needs of the country. This can further be simplified by addressing the needs of the municipalities, barangays and communities where the farm is located. Thinking local is crucial for it avoids logistical problems and meets the needs of the communities first. Related to this, the local governments must know the agricultural needs of their communities and how much agricultural products they are consuming. This is important because farmers are focused on the market outside their communities, hence, they demand farm to market roads, logistics, marketing support among others. While this is not necessarily bad, they are exposed to a number of risks similar to the ones we faced.
Thus, a think local agricultural strategy may be better. It requires the local governments to prioritize supporting locally nutritious agricultural products. If necessary, they can subsidize and help campaign for people to eat local produce. For instance, bananas have become expensive even at the countryside. It has reached more than P100/kg. At that price it is already close to a kilo of chicken at P140/kg. It will not be surprising that people will shift to eating chicken than banana. An inter-municipality production plan can be done to ensure that basic produce will be consumed locally. An integrated agricultural system can actually be developed where livestock, fisheries and farming can be woven leading to self-sufficiency. Once there is an excess produce then the localities should consider external markets.
At the national level, vigorous campaign on eating vegetables and fruits should be adopted such that the local family table will have these nutritious agricultural produce as part of the staple. Our Asean neighbors have long made affordable these products such that people consume them regularly. We should put back vegetables and fruits, apart from protein, on our tables and we should be deliberate on this. Thus, what we are saying essentially here is that agriculture sector now is not just an option for those who lost their jobs here and abroad. It is also not easy to make it as an entrepreneurial activity as like any business venture it entails so much preparations—financially, emotionally, physically and technically. This is why government should not just tell people to go into livelihood. We need to provide adequate training support apart from the usual financial aid. What may be done apart from the mindset change is to prepare the agricultural sector for our own food stockpile, stockpile that are nutritious and affordable, limiting our dependence on imported produce for those that we can produce. In short, the sustainable structural change we can do is for agriculture to think small and local.