Four-year agri modernization program focused on upgrading infrastructure
By Adrian H. Halili, Reporter
DOMESTIC food production has struggled to keep pace with the demands of a growing population and a rapidly changing climate, a trend that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking to reverse with four-year plan focused on major new farming infrastructure.
The centerpiece of this plan is modernization and mechanization, Assistant Secretary and Spokesman Arnel V. de Mesa told BusinessWorld.
“We need to improve our road system, our transport and logistics and distribution systems, to bring down the cost of inputs… eventually consumers will also feel a drop in food prices,” he added.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said that the projects are aimed at improving production, thereby lowering the price of food, and increasing the income of farmers and fisherfolk.
The program includes the construction of solar irrigation projects, farm to market roads and bridges, logistics modernization, and post- harvest facilities.
Mr. Laurel said one benefit of raising productivity is to reduce the need for imports.
With domestic production unable to meet demand, the Philippines is forced to import commodities like, rice, meat, sugar, and dairy.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, the Philippines is the world’s top rice importer, projected to ship in about 4.7 million metric tons of rice this year amid increasing demand and lowered tariffs.
The government lowered the tariffs on imported rice to 15% from 35%, until 2028 through Executive Order No. 62. The order took effect last month.
Mr. De Mesa said that the farm industry needs to improve its production systems, with the DA providing the required inducements to increase harvests.
“We also need to improve our production systems by providing the necessary impetus for mechanization. Other measures being looked at are enhancements to land preparation, crop development, and cold storage systems,” he added.
The DA is seeking to build a network of cold storage facilities to minimize post-harvest losses and allow commodities to be stored during periods of oversupply.
“There is an opportunity in cold storage (which will allow farmers to) release the product slowly and ensure good income,” he added.
Agriculture Undersecretary Jerome V. Oliveros said the DA is also seeking to add to the farm-to-market road and bridge network.
“Because there’s a disconnect. The farmers, even with the farm-to-market roads, do not have usable bridges. So, they cannot bring in their goods either,” he added.
The DA’s Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering estimates that it could take about a century to complete major infrastructure items for agriculture in the absence of funding and private-sector investment.
The government constructed around 67,328.92 kilometers (km) of farm-to-market roads in 2023, more than halfway to its goal of building 131,410.66 km in six years.
MARKET ACCESS
University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Center for Food and Agribusiness Executive Director Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul said advanced technology and digital integration could increase the productivity of crops.
“Restructure the extension system from municipal (a result of the local government code) to provincial level where a critical mass of experts can be gathered,” Ms. Dacul said via Viber.
She added the government should free the market for land acquisition to allow for bigger and more efficient farms.
Land dedicated to farming has been declining since 1980, when farmland was 9.73 million hectares, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Conducted every 10 years, the PSA’s Census of Agriculture and Fisheries counted 5.56 million farms across 7.19 million hectares, for an average area of 1.29 hectare per farm in 2012.
The Department of Agrarian Reform has distributed 43,617 land titles covering 53,860 hectares to 39,853 agrarian reform beneficiaries in the seven months to July, ahead of last year’s pace, when it distributed 69,899 land titles to 73,399 beneficiaries. This covers about 84,043 hectares of farmland.
Foundation for Economic Freedom President Calixto V. Chikiamco said that any plans to modernize agriculture will fail unless the Philippines tackles its land fragmentation problem.
“Capital, mechanization, scientific and technical knowledge, and management can’t be applied with average land sizes of one hectare or less,” he said.
The DA’s Mr. De Mesa said archipelagic geography remains a challenge to boosting production.
Ms. Dacul backs a strategy of diversifying land use, with the market determining which high-value products with high export potential are planted.
“Promote value-adding through agro-processing and packaging,” she added.
Danilo V. Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., said that the government should target vulnerable farmers for its interventions.
“We have to look regularly and monitor the basic agricultural data, because without data, it is difficult to plan, focus, and target limited funds,” Mr. Fausto added.
Part of the DA’s plan is to digitalize its systems to make farming “smarter,” in the process reducing waste in seed and fertilizer.
“Modernization is fine, but it must ensure that the farmer’s inputs are considered. It is not a matter of simply offering them modern technology but also getting their agreement to use these innovations,” Leonardo A. Lanzona, Jr., an economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila, said via Messenger chat.
“Unless the farmers know what these innovations are and are convinced that these are improvements to their existing processes, such improvements will be unsustainable,” Mr. Lanzona added.
CLIMATE RESILIENCE
The Philippines experiences an estimated 20 storms per year, which has caused untold damage to agriculture, especially in areas vulnerable flooding and heavy rain.
Mr. De Mesa said that the DA is seeking to climate-proof its agricultural infrastructure.
UA&P’s Ms. Dacul cited the need to invest in research to develop climate-resilient crop varieties, and digitalization that integrates climate-smart farming technology.
During the first half of 2024, the country faced dry spells and drought due to El Niño.
This caused about P15.3 billion worth of crop damage and livestock and fisheries losses. The estimate for lost volume of farm goods was 784,344 MT.
According to the PSA, agricultural output in the second quarter fell 3.3% due to El Niño damage.
It was the first decline in agricultural output since the 0.2% drop in the third quarter of 2023, and the biggest drop since the 3.4% contraction in the first quarter of 2021.
El Niño ended in early June, but dry conditions are expected to continue, according to the government weather service, known as PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration).
Mr. Chikiamco said technology must be harnessed to manage the effects of climate change. However, small farmers may lack access to these technologies, with the answer to this predicament lying in farm consolidation, which will allow farmers to share resources and achieve efficiencies, he added.