WILLIAM Dar is a recycled secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Nothing in the sector changed. It is still dismal. What is the data? The story in a business section of a national newspaper reported that the Department of Budget and Management turned down the Department of Agriculture “ambitious proposal for next year.” From the proposed P250 billion, it was trimmed to P72 billion. It is 71 percent lower than what was requested. So all the time, the critics are correct in saying that the Duterte administration overlooked agriculture as a factor for success and for poverty reduction. GDP is the total output on the domestic product and services of a nation. It is a measurement used by socio-economic planners. It is commonly measured by quarter, meaning every three months. Now, due to this pandemic almost all countries all over the world will suffer what the economists called contraction. Our country will suffer but can rebound and mitigate the contraction via the agricultural output for the rest of the year, some experts say. Meaning, there’s a chance that some rebound may happen.
Retro: I grew up in an agricultural town of Porac. The town is the largest in Pampanga and in my youth and up until now it is sparsely populated. Large areas were planted to sugar, palay and some vegetables then. Few meters away from our house was the beautiful deep Porac river. That portion of the Porac-Gumain river continues to flow passing through Florida Blanca town till today. During those years it was by my estimate to be 15 feet deep and all the kids in town learned to swim there. The young Lito Lapid used to swim there. It Lapid who was three term governor of the province and going 16 years as member of the Philippine senate has not done justice to the river of the town.
Porac’s resident depended largely from its vast agricultural lands. Hectares after hectares dotted the roads going to Florida Blanca. Second largest was its rice fields. Farmers in those years were simply happy and contented in whatever decent incomes they get from the soil. I remember farmers who sold their palay to the only rice mill in our town owned by my cousin the late Servillana Lumanlan David. After getting paid for their produce, some proceeded to my mother’s carinderia which was just across the street and got their fill there. I heard many of their stories. They talked mostly of their tenancy problems but nonetheless happy with the support from agencies of government.
If today you hear rice farmers complaining regarding the farm gate price of palay, it is because of the enactment of the rice tarrification law which allowed the unlimited importation of rice by both government and the private sectors. It’s so ridiculous. Apparently the move wasn’t carefully studied. It adversely affected the agri sector. Government people make a bundle on rice importation. Let’s look back in the early years when government provided support and services to Filipino farmers. Senior members of our society will remember this. In the early years, there was the ACCFA (I just can’t recall what the acronym means, but it has something to do with agriculture credit). Then there was FACOMA, meaning Farmers Cooperative Marketing Association. It was an agency designed to sell in the market the farmers’ produce to the market to eliminate middlemen. The third agency was the NAMARCO, and it means National Marketing Corporation. It is tasked by government to sell grocery products and other household items to farmers in a much much reduced prices. Farmers were happy.
President Duterte speaks the language of the poor, even the gutter and venomous street language, thus identifying himself to common folks. He may be popular with the men in the uniform services but not with the farmers. Duterte is not a friend of the farmers. Neither is Dar. The truth is the farmers are sad because seemingly he really doesn’t care about their welfare. He wouldn’t know how a simple farmer has been wanting to be given farm equipment, subsidies like seeds, fertilizer and technical support. Look around when you travel through the SCTEX and many highways all over the country. Be curious and try looking if you can find any farm equipment on the fields on both sides of the road.