THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has presented to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Cluster (EDC) a three-pronged approach that includes distributing certified rice seeds and fertilizers to farmers and importing corn at zero tariff to energize the underperforming agriculture sector, and have it contribute significantly to gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2019.
In his presentation before the EDC headed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said his department’s three-pronged plan of action covers productivity enhancement interventions for major crops such as rice, corn and sorghum, regulatory and support activities for the poultry and livestock subsectors, and livelihood and safety interventions for the fisheries subsector.
“This whole program now has to be translated into higher growth for 2019,” Dominguez said of the DA’s plan.
Dominguez convened the EDC on May 28, 2019 to determine the DA’s catch-up plan for the second to fourth quarters of 2019, and how this sector can be a significant contributor to GDP growth for the whole of 2019.
The EDC has come up with an expenditure catch-up plan that focuses on accelerating infrastructure spending for the second to fourth quarters to keep GDP growth above the six percent level in 2019.
The economy posted lower-than-expected expansion in the year’s first quarter as the budget impasse in the Congress forced the government to run on a reenacted 2018 budget at the outset of 2019 and hold back on the implementation of new programs and projects as part of its aggressive spending plan on infrastructure and human capital development.
Dominguez, who had served as DA Secretary during the Corazon Aquino administration, pointed out that to boost the economy, agriculture also has to recover from its 10-year, low-growth phase and expand by at least two percent a year.
With only 0.8 percent growth, Philippine agriculture’s anemic performance in 2018 contributed only 0.1 percent to GDP expansion last year. It grew 0.67 percent in the first three months of 2019, accounting for a paltry 0.1 percentage point of GDP growth for that quarter.
In his presentation before the EDC, Piñol said he expects the full implementation of programs under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, as provided under Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law, to significantly contribute to the growth of agriculture by the first quarter of 2020. (PR)