DA reforms seen to spark hike in 2017 farm output

Key reforms in the agricul­ture sector are expected to produce results next year in line with the thrust of the De­partment of Agriculture (DA) to achieve self-sufficiency, starting with the department assuming control of food-re­lated agencies, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Man­ny” Piñol said.

Piñol said a draft of an executive order (EO) paving the way for the return to the department’s control of the National Irrigation Adminis­tration (NIA), Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), the National Food Authority (NFA) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) was submitted to President Duterte last Friday during a meeting with him.

“There is no timeline (on when the EO will be signed), but on his instructions, I already submitted the draft executive or­der,” Piñol said.

He added that the Pres­ident had given instructions that the EO be signed by Ex­ecutive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

The Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricul­tural Modernization (Pafsam) has oversight responsibilities for the four agencies which were formerly under the DA.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan was the first Pafsam, a posi­tion created by former Presi­dent Benigno S. Aquino III.

Also, the National Eco­nomic and Development Au­thority (Neda) said the lifting of quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice imports next year can lower prices of locally grown rice and this may may bode well for consumers.

The removal or lifting of the QR for rice imports by July 2017 is expected to lower the prices of well-milled rice by P7 and farm gate price by P5, Neda said in a statement.

“We must help our rice farmers prepare for this to en­able them to transition to high­er value crops as we ensure food security and make basic prices more affordable to the poor,” Neda Director-General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

Food inflation remained unchanged in November 2016 at 3.5 percent, with rice pric­es breaking their five-month long increasing trend and corn prices continuing in their downward trend since August.

Rice prices account for 38 percent of total food inflation.

“The decrease in rice pric­es signals the recovery of the rice sector from the devasta­tion of typhoons Karen and Lawin. We must foster techno­logical advances in agriculture to decrease the susceptibility of our crops to natural calami­ties,” said Pernia.

However, inflation in No­vember 2016 slightly rose to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent in the previous month due to the increase in the prices of major non-food commodities.

“The increase in inflation can be attributed to the in­crease in the domestic prices of petrol products, which com­prise the bulk of the non-food commodity basket usually purchased by the average Fili­pino household,” Pernia said.

Non-food inflation in­creased due to the uptick of prices in all major non-food items such as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.3 percent from 0.9 percent), and transport (0.5 percent from 0.2 percent).

“Overall, we expect the full-year inflation for 2016 to be well within the government’s inflation target band of 2 to 4 percent. The overall balance of risks is tilted on the upside, with supply-side factors as the main contributor to price ad­justments,” Pernia said.

Special fund urged

Meanwhile, a member at the House of Representatives said the DA should push for a spe­cial fund for rice farmers to en­sure sustainable rice produc­tion amid the imminent lifting of the QR on rice by next year

“We need to create a spe­cial fund for rice farmers. The revenue to be collected from rice import tariffs should be used to ensure a healthy rice economy that leans toward helping our farmers cope with the worst-case scenario once the rice quantitative restriction is lifted next year,” Occiden­tal Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato said.

Sato made the call af­ter meeting with Pernia, who assured her that the Duterte administration intends to use revenues from the planned im­position of tariff on imported rice to support rice farmers.

Sato expressed concern that resource-poor farmers, particularly rice producers, would not be able to compete once imported rice start to flood the market.

She said many rice farm­ers remain landless and have to cope with the challenge posed by excessive rice im­portation.

“The government should put in place necessary mea­sures as safety nets in the form of direct support to the farmers, particularly those with small landholdings, such as seed and fertilizer subsidies, free irrigation, training to im­prove production, packaging of rice products, and access to emerging market chains,” she said.

She said the DA and other agencies involved in promot­ing food self-sufficiency and security should come up with programs that would boost lo­cal rice production and allow farmers to compete against cheaper, imported rice.

Sato also said that while consumers would general­ly benefit from the expected flood of imported rice, the scenario would surely “kill” rice farming, which is the way of life for many farmers in the country.

Sato is also worried that the lifting of the QR on rice would force farmers to shift to planting other crops, or worse, give up farming altogether, ad­versely affecting the country’s rice self-sufficiency goals, in particular, and food self-suffi­ciency, in general.

“The unrestricted or un­regulated importation of rice would not only affect farmers, but would also slow down ag­ricultural production, affect­ing the country’s economic growth,” she said.

The DA earlier said it is targeting a growth of 5 to 6 percent next year as a result of the reforms introduced.

“I am confident that we will grow. I would be target­ing around 5 to 6 percent by next year… I believe that in the next cropping season, I just hope that we will not be hit by extreme calamity, (it’s) very, very positive,” Piñol said.

Piñol said the sector is expected to post a flat growth in the fourth quarter, sustaining third quarter’s 2.9 percent.

The sector grew by 2.9 percent in the July-to-Sep­tember quarter amid the normalization of weather conditions, breaking five consecutive quarters of de­cline.

It has recovered from the prolonged drought brought by El Niño, which dissipated in the third quarter of 2016.

Piñol said the sector posted negative growths of 4 percent in the first quarter, and 2.13 percent in the sec­ond quarter.

“For the whole year, I think we will just even up be­cause of the severe negative growths in the first and sec­ond quarters,” he added.

The agricultural sector posted a flat growth of 0.11 percent in 2015 in terms of production volume.

LUIS LEONCIO