Changing of Philippine agriculture
In May, the Filipino people elected Rodrigo Duterte as the 16th president of the Philippines. Wildly popular, and often controversial, the tough-talking President ran on the campaign promise of “change is coming” to all aspects of the country’s affairs, including the agricultural sector.
Providing support services to small farmers to improve their productivity is part of the Duterte administration’s national economic plan to develop the rural areas. The new government aims to achieve rice self-sufficiency “within one to two years” by intensifying domestic production, according to statements made by Peter Laviña, the president’s spokesman, to Reuters.
The man President Duterte appointed to do the job is Emmanuel Piñol, the new secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA). Secretary Piñol, a former provincial governor of Cotabato in Mindanao, calls himself a “hands-on farmer.”
“I know how to plow the field using a carabao, how to plant rice, and I breed chicken and goats,” he said in a DA media release. “I’ve been a local government official, I’ve been aware of the dreams and aspirations of the Filipino farmer.
“The next administration will exert all efforts and use all resources for the country to attain rice self-sufficiency,” he added. “It could be during President Duterte’s term or maybe the next, but we will lay the foundation of a sustained and well-planned agriculture to attain rice self-sufficiency.”
The secretary believes that Filipino farmers could easily fill the 1.18 million tons of rice deficiency if all farms in the country increased their production by 1 ton per cropping season.
To achieve food security, part of Piñol’s strategy includes the rapid and effective transfer of technologies to farmers, easy credit schemes for farmers, and efficient marketing of farm products. He stressed that it would be the farmers themselves to decide what they need to improve their production.
“It will always be the farmers’ choice,” the secretary said. “What variety they want to plant, what fertilizers to use, and what equipment. We are just here to suggest and provide the assistance they need, following a sound assessment and validation.”
In July, Secretary Piñol visited the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for an overview of its research, technologies, rice varieties, and other products that could help make food available and affordable to all Filipinos and improve the lives of farmers.
(reposted and extracted from irri.org)
(reposted and extracted from irri.org)
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