It was a busy agri-week, from the launch of the Leaders and Entrepreneurs in Agriculture Forum (September 29-30, 2018) to the ASEAN Agriculture Summit (October 1, 2018)  and the Agrilink 2018 (October 2-4, 2018). It is safe to say that this is the right time to boost our agriculture sector which has been lagging behind. Our neighboring countries that learned from us have been are better than us, we are left behind.

The Philippines is an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares, 47% of which is agricultural land. We have rich land, natural resources, hardworking farmers and agri-research institutions. We are blessed with so many resources, however, we did not really prioritize agriculture which is the backbone of our economy. 

We cannot just allow our limitations like the lack of infrastructure on irrigation, farm to market road, farmers’ access to capital, technologies, market, mechanization and comprehensive capacity building to hinder the progress of the agriculture sector. We need to take solid action! This action must not only be done by the government but by different stakeholders including the private sector that are making business in agriculture, the NGOs and international organizations with presence in the country for agriculture programs, the academes that producing our agriculture graduates and research institutions for the continuous development of R & D.

National Food Security Masterplan

There must be a holistic National Food Security Masterplan and Roadmap for the Philippines Agriculture as the population is exponentially growing whilst our production is going the opposite direction. This masterplan and roadmap shall also be required to the smallest political unit of our society from barangay to municipal level so that everyone knows what they need in terms of agriculture and can set better target that is the basis for budget and programs. All the more that the local direction for agriculture is devolved from the National Office, there must be a need to intensify the mobilization of plans and programs on the local level.

There is a need to have an integrated management approach to our smallholder farmers to reach economies of scale to sufficiently , consistently and efficiently supply the market. When smallholder farmers are group together, they have a stronger voice to avail support from the government, get financial support and negotiation power to traders. 

Agripreneruship, Agritech and Farm Tourism

Agriculture is not palatable to young people anymore, unless we will entice the youth to go into agriculture thru agribusiness, the outlook of people to agriculture is still a one-way ticket to poverty because even the farmers would tell their children not to follow their footsteps, better study hard and go abroad to get a better job then send money back home. Production-focused agriculture is not exciting for young people, but an agribusiness-focused agriculture is important for everyone to see that there is money in farming.

Digitalizing agriculture is also a great way to boost the sector together with farm mechanization that follows sustainable agricultural practices. Until now most of our farmers names and profiles are still in an excel sheet of the government offices, we don’t have database of farmers in the Philippines and a fair-trading system that could change how the producers, traders and consumers could work together in a more transparent way. Farmers couldn’t negotiate for their farmgate price, consumers are closing their eyes accepting the inflated prices and traders are making means to bring the goods to the market without proper regulation, but they also serve a purpose in the middle, however, this must be more ethical.

Farm tourism is also a great addition to the agri-sector. This can bring value addition to farmers and at the same time generate more jobs. Most destination farms in the Philippines are also practicing eco-friendly approaches to farming and focusing on sustainability. This is an inclusive way for rural development. As the farm is becoming develop, it employs people around the area and at the same time take good care of the environment which a great package to promote tourism.

Finally, let’s revive and revitalize this dying sector that feeds all of us! We need to do this together.