What Is Wrong With PH Agriculture Is Everything – No Roadmap In The Last 20 Years!

"Mapping The Future" is the running title of Rolando T Dy's column at Inquirer.net, and it is just now that I notice it. In his 14 October 2019 column, "Contrasting Narrative Of Agriculture In Asean" (business.inquirer.net), he comes up with a despairing note right from the start:

Why is rural poverty in the Philippines (30 percent) about 2.5 times that of Asean peers? The reasons emanate from (agricultural) growth and exports.

And I, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines' College of Agriculture, attribute it all to the lack of a PH Agriculture Roadmap since Edgardo Angara became in 1999 the Secretary of Agriculture under President Joseph "Erap" Estrada.

How can you map a bright future when you have noRoadmap?!
(Original roadmap image from Omnitude, omnitude.tech)

Mr Dy attributes the dismal status of PH Agriculture to these:

First, poor agriculture growth can be traced to low productivity growth and narrow crop product mix.

Second, key exports were anchored on only two products: coconut and Cavendish banana. The former has 3.5 million hectares; the latter, about 80,000 ha.

Yes Sir! And ultimately, to where do we trace the origin of low productivity growth and narrow product mix? Lack of a PH Roadmap in Agriculture. So, I say:

The best thing that ever happened to PH Agriculture is:
The new Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie!

I am glad Mr Dy says in parting:

The overriding thrust of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, Masaganang Ani, Mataas na Kita (high productivity and prosperous income for all), provides impetus. There is need for new paradigms, and equally important, clarion call for a professionalized agriculture bureaucracy. Time is of the essence. The Philippines has to catch up with Asean peers.

"There is need for new paradigms," Mr Dy says. Yes Sir! Even before he was sure to become the next Secretary of Agriculture, Manong Willie had already come out with his Eight Paradigms as part of The New Thinking For Agriculture:

1. Modernization must continue.

2. Industrialization of Agriculture is the key.

3. Promotion of export is a necessity.

4. Consolidation of small-and-medium-size farms (is a must).

5. Infrastructure development should also be critical.

6. Higher budget and investment for Philippine agriculture (is called for).

7. Legislative support is needed.

8. Roadmap development is paramount.

And yes, Manong Willie keeps on emphasizing that the overall development of PH Agriculture must come from partnerships of the public, private, professional and peasant sectors. I know the nature of such partnerships because those were his thoughts as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, from January 2000 to December 2014; I was  international consulting writer for ICRISAT from 2007 to 2014.

So we can expect, under his leadership, PH Agriculture's unprecedented growth in crop & livestock mixes, outputs, exports – all the time cultivating commendable and sustainable lives of the families of farmers and fishers!

Manong Willie knows poverty himself – he comes from a poor family in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.@517