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By Rene Q. Bas, Editor in
Chief
THE P40-billion-plus worth of
agriculture-sector development programs announced by President
Gloria Arroyo at Clark last Friday—most of which respond
positively to the demands and recommen-dations of farm groups,
technical experts and nationalist economists—are expected by
political and business observers to result in a great leap forward
for the Philippine economy as a whole.
And in a boost for President
Arroyo’s image.
These same observers see that the
very launching of President Arroyo’s FIELDS programs will
immediately raise her stock among poor farmers and their families in
the rural areas, where most of the local government officials are
already her political allies.
If her food security programs are
carried out—as the President has promised—in complete probity
and transparency, they will achieve their goals of raising the
productivity of the rural areas, making the Philippines
self-sufficient in rice and other basic agricultural products.
This will in turn mean that the
country’s poorest will have jobs and incomes and therefore emerge
from their poverty.
President Arroyo calls her most
comprehensive agricultural-sector development plans FIELDS.
“We must work harder to grow
and breed what we need,” she said in her speech at the National
Food Summit last Friday.
“We are going to cluster our
food production drive in six assistance packages, which are the
essential ingredients in making food abundant accessible and
affordable. It is called a FIELDS – F-I-E-L-D-S. F is for
fertilizer. I is for irrigation and infrastructure. E is for
extension and education. L is for loans and insurance. D is for
dryers and other post-harvest facilities. S is for seeds.
“On fertilizer, we will renew
our push for organic fertilizer because the price of urea fertilizer
being oil-based has increased 200 percent in the last two years. We
must set aside P500 million from the ACEF fund for fertilizer
support and production, especially for organic fertilizers.
Specifically, the DA must utilize proven technologies like Bio-N to
increase the yields of rice farmers in the current wet season and
third crop.
“On irrigation and
infrastructure, I direct NIA to finish the rehabilitation of
irrigation systems by 2010. On new construction, we encourage small
irrigations systems, except for the large ones we have already
committed to, like Kabulnan, Balintingon, Malmar and San Roque. We
will spend P6 billion a year on irrigation and P6-billion on
infrastructure, including farm-to-market roads, roll-on-roll-off
ferry ports, and no-frills airports for agricultural cargo.
“On extension and education, we
recognize the importance of continuous training of farmers and
fisher folk on new technology. I instruct the DA to continuously
implement programs and interventions with close cooperation from the
DILG and the LGUs, as well as the DOST, aimed at training more
trainors and technicians on new technology for dissemination to
farmers; utilize the SUCs in its extension-related activities;
provide more funds for training of farmers and fisher folk on new
and emerging technology. We will allocate P2 billion in research and
development, P1 billion in capability building, P1 billion in
trainors and technicians and P1 billion in the agricultural and
fisheries education system.
“On loans, I direct Secretary
Yap to study how to maximize bank compliance to the agri-agra law.
Meanwhile, the government financial institutions can assure P15
billion available for agricultural credit. But for farmers to have
access to all this formal credit, I ask Congress to enact a law
making farm land acceptable as loan collateral.
“On dryers and other
post-harvest facilities, I instruct the DA to establish appropriate
integrated processing and trading centers in collaboration with the
private sector, like the cold chain system and rice and corn
processing centers. We will spend P2 billion on this from budget and
off-budget sources.
“On seeds, the most important
is to support the seed growers. Their success will enable rainfed-lowland
areas presently planted to good seeds to migrate to certified rice
seeds and those planted to certified seeds, to migrate to hybrid
seeds. Some 600,000 hectares this year will be targeted all over the
country for certified seeds, with another 900,000 hectares for
hybrid seeds planted by our farmers from 2009 to 2010. We must
sustain funding this program which will require P2.7 billion for
hybrid seeds and P6.5 billion for certified seeds for five harvests
from 2009 until 2010.
“In all these programs, we must
be transparent. We will work to fix the corruption that still
plagues our nation, including in the agri-business sector. We
especially prohibit officials from dealing with fertilizer brokers
and agents. They can only deal with official distributors in the
regions and provinces.”
President Arroyo’s announced
programs conform to the demands of farm groups, nationalist
economists and bishops for better policies toward the agricultural
sector. The only parts not covered among the demands of the
nationalist economists are (1) for the Arroyo administration to drop
its allegiance to “neo-liberal” policies that they say have
ruined Philippine industry and agriculture and (2) the total and
reformed implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program.
Earnest and transparent work on
the FIELDS programs, some of the political commentators I canvassed
said, could be the opportunity for Mrs. Arroyo to overturn her
unpopularity in opinion surveys.
Even the perception that
everything the Arroyo administration does is tainted by corruption
can change if it is seen in the next six months that work on FIELDS
is done openly— and the results are successful.
President Arroyo also mentioned
her wish to appoint an Ombudsman for Agriculture, which will need a
new law, so that wrongdoers such as those alleged to have committed
the so-called fertilizer scam and the newly revealed Swine-loans
scam can be persecuted.
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