DEPARTMENT OF Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar on Wednesday urged the House of Representatives to continue supporting the agriculture modernization and “Plant, Plant, Plant” initiatives even after his term ends in 2022.
"I humbly ask you to consider our 2022 strategies and plans, for I am confident we are doing right by our expanded base of stakeholders: the farmers, fishers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and other industry partners in the Philippine food systems," Dar said during the House budget hearing.
Dar cited the good outputs from the crop subsector, adding that the record palay harvest in 2020 minimized the damage inflicted by the African swine fever (ASF) in the economy.
The crop subsector, which accounts for 56 percent of the total agricultural value for the second quarter of 2021, is a manifestation of the link between considerable government investment and phenomenal growth, Dar said.
The DA, under Dar's leadership, has heavily invested in modernizing rice production through the interventions of various DA rice production programs and the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
"The results are straightforward: we achieved 90 percent rice self-sufficiency during this pandemic, and supported major scientific innovations in developing and distributing quality rice seeds that brought yields to 19.44 m MT in 2020," he said.
"I simply want to replicate what we did for rice with the rest of the agri-fishery sector, particularly in emergent commodities where we have comparative advantage, to include diversification and research for development," he added.
Dar said the Philippines made a name on the world stage through its export products such as mangoes, coconuts, pineapple, sugarcane, and milkfish.
"We all know it takes deep resources to uphold world class stature. This is as true for Olympic Games as it is true for economies," he added.
Dar noted the vigorous investments of other Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) members in their agriculture sectors which became their springboard for industrialization.
Vietnam devotes 6.5 percent of its national budget to agri-fishery while Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have invested 3.4, 3.6, and 2.3 percent of their respective budget in agriculture.
While the Philippines, on the other hand, only allotted 1.6 percent of its national budget to the sector.
"That was the major source of economic growth at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic," Dar said.
The DA's flagship program, “Plant, Plant, Plant”, which covered a range of commodities and value chain support, has been implemented nationwide.
He said the local government units, civil society, and private sector partners came aboard this project to end hunger by chipping away at the alarming poverty incidence, magnified by the loss of jobs during the pandemic.
"Increased investments are well and good, but it is in increasing productivity levels and diversification that we will find our footing and transition towards a more vibrant agri-based food manufacturing industry and our uncontested name in export markets," he said. (Christine Cudis)
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