While the agri sector burns, the new sheriff’s focus is elsewhere

Rice at P50 per kilo is about to become the “new normal” because of subpar production and ill-timed imports. Garlic prices have surged to impossible levels. The tree of life, the coconut, is threatened by an infestation that has so far ravaged plantations in many areas of Southern Tagalog. The tameness of the name, “cocolisap,” cannot obscure its horrific impact on coconut farms.

The Asean-wide integration next year is supposed to provide  awesome  opportunities for the Philippine agriculture sector. The reality is it would expose the brutal wages of  agriculture’s long neglect  and the urban bias of leaders past and present. And the integration would magnify the superiority of Thailand’s agricultural  producers.