He noted that fintech can facilitate the flow of capital for farmers. However, there’s a caveat as Briones said there’s a need to gain the trust of farmers. He said doing so would convince farmers to use such mechanism.
“That type of system—eCommerce—is not yet widespread among farmers. There is still a level of acceptability in payment systems that we have to achieve,” he said.
Briones said the provision of Automated Teller Machine cards to farmers, who are also 4Ps beneficiaries, is one step to introducing them to digital technology.
Agri online
The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Kadiwa program proved to be a saving grace of farmers during the ECQ and the Covid-19 pandemic as the rolling-store system provided an assured market and profit.
Latest figures released by the DA showed that farmers earned over P122 million from the sales of almost 2,000-metric ton of farm goods under the three modalities of its Kadiwa system.
The DA said it was able to facilitate the sale of 40 MT of goods worth P30.27 million through 44 sites of its Kadiwa retail-selling mode while P73.55 million worth of 1,551-MT of farm produce were sold in 307 “Kadiwa on Wheels.”
The use of internet and available technology also allowed the DA to connect farmers to consumers through mobile phones and laptops. The DA said it was able to sell P18.31 million worth of farm produce through “Kadiwa Online,” which is currently running on three Internet sites.
In fact, the use of social media was also a key player in aiding farmers to sell their goods due to loss of market, according to the DA and people using such platform.
The likes of Sadiwa.PH, an online initiative run by Millennials, capitalized Twitter and Facebook to help strawberry farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, to reach consumers in Metro Manila.
The lockdowns and the loss of tourists in Benguet and Baguio resulted in unsold strawberries; some farmers forced to produce strawberry jams. Despite such measure, there were still strawberries waiting for harvest.
Sadiwa.PH started an initiative to buy strawberries from farmers higher than the prevailing retail price in Benguet (which is about twice the current farm-gate price) and sell them to Manila consumers at half of the prevailing retail price in supermarkets.
Not big
Inciong said the current system of small- to medium-scale farming in the Philippines cushioned the impact of Covid-19 on the country’s food supply since there are still a lot of players involved in the production.
“What’s happening in other countries is that their food chain is so disrupted because they are dominated by conglomerates, like in the US. Mabuti mabuti pa tayo [We’re okay because] a lot of us are still small players,” he said.
Inciong said they propose that broiler farms with 10,000 heads and below capacity should be established in strategic municipalities or areas near urban locations to ensure sufficiency of supply during a crisis.
“There is a need for farming to be less corporate; less big-scale, so that we will not have great pressure on the environment and supply distribution would be more strategic,” he added.
Briones said there is still a need for a wide-scale farming operations to have economies of scale. He added that having a centralized farming system would be easier to regulate in terms of standards and during crisis.
“We should think that the US could have done better, since centralized, as easier to regulate and implementation of social distancing standards should have been quicker,” Briones told the BusinessMirror. “Perhaps they lacked in implementing these health guidelines.”
Improvements
Raul Q. Montemayor agrees, saying there is a need to decentralize the country’s farming system. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said this could be done by investing in rural areas that have potential to grow more food and diversify food supply sources locally.
“One of the lessons learned even in the US is that the concentration in input, processing and marketing systems through large agribusiness companies is very vulnerable to shocks like Covid-19,” Montemayor told the BusinessMirror.
“We have to look into decentralizing and dispersing key processes aside from production such as seed production, input supply, processing and marketing, especially because of our transportation constraints,” he added.
Montemayor said there is also a need to further improve the country’s food safety system amid rise of health crisis like Covid-19.
Philippine Association for Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) Vice President Jerome D. Ong also called for more investments in key areas that do not have plants or factories but have great potential consumer market, like in Visayas and Mindanao.
This allows a more diverse supply base in light of not only a health crisis but of animal disease outbreaks that tend to disrupt food trade across the islands of the country, Ong explained.
But “decentralization” is already a “given,” Cold Chain Association of the Philippines President Anthony S. Dizon said.
This, Dizon explained, is because there are still growth opportunities for businesses to invest in viable food production areas.
He proposes putting up cold storage hubs in Caraga and Negros Occidental where aqua-culture is thriving.
There is also an opportunity to provide cold storage to high-value fruit growers in the north, as blast freezing fruits like strawberry would prolong their shelf life, Dizon added.
Zero data
THE absence of an efficient data system did not help the industry to better adjust and cope with the pandemic situation since everyone is blind on the real amount of supply and potential production on the ground, Inciong said.
“Everything is gut feel now. There’s no confidence in information.
In fact, Inciong pointed out, the need for a sound and reliable data system is not a mere “proposal” but is mandated by the Agri-Fisheries Modernization Act (Afma) of 1997.
Under the law, the government must set up a system that could easily provide data on food supply, demand, price and price trends, down to the municipal level.
“The priority should be investing in data; it is a legal requirement. And as far as we are concerned the Afma has not been repealed,” Inciong said.
Navarro proposed that all Filipino farmers’ lands should be geo-tagged to determine where supplies would be coming from and to make it easier to assess current food stocks.
This, he noted, would form part of the government’s data base and allow authorities to easily preposition food supplies during crises.
“By then we will be able to know where we will get our supplies,” he said. “But we do not have that kind of data until now.”
Exchange system
Navarro emphasized that the government should consider looking into the establishment of a commodities exchange system that allows for a futures-trading of domestic farm produce.
Such system would be tied up with establishments of state-run silos where locally-bought produce would be stored.
Having such kind of system would ensure farmers earn at least enough profit to break-even despite sudden disease outbreaks or even pandemics, Navarro explained.
Navarro said government should also consider investing in other staple alternatives, such as the rice-corn blend that they have been pushing for the longest time. He explained that having such substitute ensures the country would have a more stable staple supply and won’t rely too much on the import market.
Need for review
Both Inciong and Navarro agree that the LGU Code should be reviewed in light of the disruptions made in food trade due to arbitrary rules set by local chief executives in the guise of protecting their localities from Covid-19.
Inciong proposes that the DA should have a presence at the provincial level and municipal level to easily intervene in collecting “sound and reliable” data needed for better policy-making.
Ong said the current autonomy of the LGUs has its pros and cons.
For one, dealing and coordinating with them is easier in terms of relief operations, he said. For another, the arbitrary rules, based on their own interpretation of existing guidelines, somehow hindered movement of food products.
“It created too much autonomy that led to different interpretations and implementations of the laws, creating confusion for everyone,” Ong said.
“Perhaps, the Local Government Code can operate and be implemented in its officially legislated form under normal situations. But during crisis situations, there should be an exception that they must toe the line when it comes to nationally-formulated guidelines,” he added.
Outbreak-proof
IN the short term, the government should provide small-scale farmers “social support,” through food ration and income support to help them survive the pandemic amid loss of income, considering that these farmers are net food buyers, Rosegrant said.
He added that the government should prioritize long-term investments in agriculture instead of short-term support to promote domestic production since this wouldn’t be beneficial due to lower food demand.
“Direct short-term support to promote domestic production [will unlikely] be beneficial given the fall in food demand, but as the Philippines emerges from the pandemic, longer-term investments in agriculture and rural areas would have big benefits, including expanded investment in agricultural research and development and rural roads and markets to improve farm productivity and market access for small farmers,” Rosegrant said.
Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) economists said the Philippines could rise from this pandemic stronger if the government would implement reforms that encourage the development of an agriculture-driven economy.
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang the implementation of the creation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development (SAFD) zones as mandated by Afma is the way forward to a post-Covid agriculture-driven economy.
SAFD zones are “areas identified for production, agro-processing and marketing activities to help develop and modernize, either the support of government, the agriculture and fisheries sectors in an environmentally and socio-cultural sound manner,” according to Afma. [Read more here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/05/06/admu-economists-suggest-agri-driven-economy-for-phl-to-deal-with-pandemic/]
Briones said future investments should not be focused only on the production side but on the whole food chain system since the country badly lags behind in terms of having a proper distribution network.
“The entire [supply chain] should be looked into and not pour all investments in the top part of the chain,” he said. “What happens is that other elements of the chain are being neglected, such as manufacturing and distribution.”
Briones proposes that private sector investment in the food supply chain, through loans borrowed from financial institutions, could be considered as compliance with the agri-agra law to encourage faster developments and growth in the sector.
We’ll survive
THE DA is confident it is “ready” for the “new normal” of the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector.
Dar said this “new normal” would be anchored on three principles: survive, reboot and grow.
Under the “survive” principle, Dar said the DA shall continue to implement resiliency programs and projects on climate change, such as its P8.5-billion rice resiliency project that aims to hike domestic rice output during the crisis.
Other interventions under this stage include cash assistance and soft loans to farmers as well as ensuring unhampered movement of food trade and directly linking farmers to consumers.
The DA also intensified its urban agriculture and back gardening programs to increase food supplies and in particular ensure availability of food in urban areas, especially in households that are capable of growing plants.
“Secondly, we must reboot and reform our agricultural policies, and refocus our priorities to minimize the adverse effects and disruptions on agricultural production and food supply chain due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dar said.
“Thirdly, the agriculture and fishery sector must grow, by attracting more investments and resources, and partnering with the private sector and local government units—to increase food sufficiency levels, and at the same time modernize and industrialize the country’s agri-fishery sector,” Dar added.
Under the new normal, Dar vowed to “prioritize interventions on agri-fishery productivity and resiliency.” He added that the use of digital technology would also be “maximized” to “link producers to consumers through e-commerce and related activities.”
“Together, we will survive, reboot, and grow toward a food-secured nation,” Dar said.
“That type of system—eCommerce—is not yet widespread among farmers. There is still a level of acceptability in payment systems that we have to achieve,” he said.
Briones said the provision of Automated Teller Machine cards to farmers, who are also 4Ps beneficiaries, is one step to introducing them to digital technology.
Agri online
The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Kadiwa program proved to be a saving grace of farmers during the ECQ and the Covid-19 pandemic as the rolling-store system provided an assured market and profit.
Latest figures released by the DA showed that farmers earned over P122 million from the sales of almost 2,000-metric ton of farm goods under the three modalities of its Kadiwa system.
The DA said it was able to facilitate the sale of 40 MT of goods worth P30.27 million through 44 sites of its Kadiwa retail-selling mode while P73.55 million worth of 1,551-MT of farm produce were sold in 307 “Kadiwa on Wheels.”
The use of internet and available technology also allowed the DA to connect farmers to consumers through mobile phones and laptops. The DA said it was able to sell P18.31 million worth of farm produce through “Kadiwa Online,” which is currently running on three Internet sites.
In fact, the use of social media was also a key player in aiding farmers to sell their goods due to loss of market, according to the DA and people using such platform.
The likes of Sadiwa.PH, an online initiative run by Millennials, capitalized Twitter and Facebook to help strawberry farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, to reach consumers in Metro Manila.
The lockdowns and the loss of tourists in Benguet and Baguio resulted in unsold strawberries; some farmers forced to produce strawberry jams. Despite such measure, there were still strawberries waiting for harvest.
Sadiwa.PH started an initiative to buy strawberries from farmers higher than the prevailing retail price in Benguet (which is about twice the current farm-gate price) and sell them to Manila consumers at half of the prevailing retail price in supermarkets.
Not big
Inciong said the current system of small- to medium-scale farming in the Philippines cushioned the impact of Covid-19 on the country’s food supply since there are still a lot of players involved in the production.
“What’s happening in other countries is that their food chain is so disrupted because they are dominated by conglomerates, like in the US. Mabuti mabuti pa tayo [We’re okay because] a lot of us are still small players,” he said.
Inciong said they propose that broiler farms with 10,000 heads and below capacity should be established in strategic municipalities or areas near urban locations to ensure sufficiency of supply during a crisis.
“There is a need for farming to be less corporate; less big-scale, so that we will not have great pressure on the environment and supply distribution would be more strategic,” he added.
Briones said there is still a need for a wide-scale farming operations to have economies of scale. He added that having a centralized farming system would be easier to regulate in terms of standards and during crisis.
“We should think that the US could have done better, since centralized, as easier to regulate and implementation of social distancing standards should have been quicker,” Briones told the BusinessMirror. “Perhaps they lacked in implementing these health guidelines.”
Improvements
Raul Q. Montemayor agrees, saying there is a need to decentralize the country’s farming system. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said this could be done by investing in rural areas that have potential to grow more food and diversify food supply sources locally.
“One of the lessons learned even in the US is that the concentration in input, processing and marketing systems through large agribusiness companies is very vulnerable to shocks like Covid-19,” Montemayor told the BusinessMirror.
“We have to look into decentralizing and dispersing key processes aside from production such as seed production, input supply, processing and marketing, especially because of our transportation constraints,” he added.
Montemayor said there is also a need to further improve the country’s food safety system amid rise of health crisis like Covid-19.
Philippine Association for Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) Vice President Jerome D. Ong also called for more investments in key areas that do not have plants or factories but have great potential consumer market, like in Visayas and Mindanao.
This allows a more diverse supply base in light of not only a health crisis but of animal disease outbreaks that tend to disrupt food trade across the islands of the country, Ong explained.
But “decentralization” is already a “given,” Cold Chain Association of the Philippines President Anthony S. Dizon said.
This, Dizon explained, is because there are still growth opportunities for businesses to invest in viable food production areas.
He proposes putting up cold storage hubs in Caraga and Negros Occidental where aqua-culture is thriving.
There is also an opportunity to provide cold storage to high-value fruit growers in the north, as blast freezing fruits like strawberry would prolong their shelf life, Dizon added.
Zero data
THE absence of an efficient data system did not help the industry to better adjust and cope with the pandemic situation since everyone is blind on the real amount of supply and potential production on the ground, Inciong said.
“Everything is gut feel now. There’s no confidence in information.
In fact, Inciong pointed out, the need for a sound and reliable data system is not a mere “proposal” but is mandated by the Agri-Fisheries Modernization Act (Afma) of 1997.
Under the law, the government must set up a system that could easily provide data on food supply, demand, price and price trends, down to the municipal level.
“The priority should be investing in data; it is a legal requirement. And as far as we are concerned the Afma has not been repealed,” Inciong said.
Navarro proposed that all Filipino farmers’ lands should be geo-tagged to determine where supplies would be coming from and to make it easier to assess current food stocks.
This, he noted, would form part of the government’s data base and allow authorities to easily preposition food supplies during crises.
“By then we will be able to know where we will get our supplies,” he said. “But we do not have that kind of data until now.”
Exchange system
Navarro emphasized that the government should consider looking into the establishment of a commodities exchange system that allows for a futures-trading of domestic farm produce.
Such system would be tied up with establishments of state-run silos where locally-bought produce would be stored.
Having such kind of system would ensure farmers earn at least enough profit to break-even despite sudden disease outbreaks or even pandemics, Navarro explained.
Navarro said government should also consider investing in other staple alternatives, such as the rice-corn blend that they have been pushing for the longest time. He explained that having such substitute ensures the country would have a more stable staple supply and won’t rely too much on the import market.
Need for review
Both Inciong and Navarro agree that the LGU Code should be reviewed in light of the disruptions made in food trade due to arbitrary rules set by local chief executives in the guise of protecting their localities from Covid-19.
Inciong proposes that the DA should have a presence at the provincial level and municipal level to easily intervene in collecting “sound and reliable” data needed for better policy-making.
Ong said the current autonomy of the LGUs has its pros and cons.
For one, dealing and coordinating with them is easier in terms of relief operations, he said. For another, the arbitrary rules, based on their own interpretation of existing guidelines, somehow hindered movement of food products.
“It created too much autonomy that led to different interpretations and implementations of the laws, creating confusion for everyone,” Ong said.
“Perhaps, the Local Government Code can operate and be implemented in its officially legislated form under normal situations. But during crisis situations, there should be an exception that they must toe the line when it comes to nationally-formulated guidelines,” he added.
Outbreak-proof
IN the short term, the government should provide small-scale farmers “social support,” through food ration and income support to help them survive the pandemic amid loss of income, considering that these farmers are net food buyers, Rosegrant said.
He added that the government should prioritize long-term investments in agriculture instead of short-term support to promote domestic production since this wouldn’t be beneficial due to lower food demand.
“Direct short-term support to promote domestic production [will unlikely] be beneficial given the fall in food demand, but as the Philippines emerges from the pandemic, longer-term investments in agriculture and rural areas would have big benefits, including expanded investment in agricultural research and development and rural roads and markets to improve farm productivity and market access for small farmers,” Rosegrant said.
Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) economists said the Philippines could rise from this pandemic stronger if the government would implement reforms that encourage the development of an agriculture-driven economy.
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang the implementation of the creation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development (SAFD) zones as mandated by Afma is the way forward to a post-Covid agriculture-driven economy.
SAFD zones are “areas identified for production, agro-processing and marketing activities to help develop and modernize, either the support of government, the agriculture and fisheries sectors in an environmentally and socio-cultural sound manner,” according to Afma. [Read more here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/05/06/admu-economists-suggest-agri-driven-economy-for-phl-to-deal-with-pandemic/]
Briones said future investments should not be focused only on the production side but on the whole food chain system since the country badly lags behind in terms of having a proper distribution network.
“The entire [supply chain] should be looked into and not pour all investments in the top part of the chain,” he said. “What happens is that other elements of the chain are being neglected, such as manufacturing and distribution.”
Briones proposes that private sector investment in the food supply chain, through loans borrowed from financial institutions, could be considered as compliance with the agri-agra law to encourage faster developments and growth in the sector.
We’ll survive
THE DA is confident it is “ready” for the “new normal” of the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector.
Dar said this “new normal” would be anchored on three principles: survive, reboot and grow.
Under the “survive” principle, Dar said the DA shall continue to implement resiliency programs and projects on climate change, such as its P8.5-billion rice resiliency project that aims to hike domestic rice output during the crisis.
Other interventions under this stage include cash assistance and soft loans to farmers as well as ensuring unhampered movement of food trade and directly linking farmers to consumers.
The DA also intensified its urban agriculture and back gardening programs to increase food supplies and in particular ensure availability of food in urban areas, especially in households that are capable of growing plants.
“Secondly, we must reboot and reform our agricultural policies, and refocus our priorities to minimize the adverse effects and disruptions on agricultural production and food supply chain due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dar said.
“Thirdly, the agriculture and fishery sector must grow, by attracting more investments and resources, and partnering with the private sector and local government units—to increase food sufficiency levels, and at the same time modernize and industrialize the country’s agri-fishery sector,” Dar added.
Under the new normal, Dar vowed to “prioritize interventions on agri-fishery productivity and resiliency.” He added that the use of digital technology would also be “maximized” to “link producers to consumers through e-commerce and related activities.”
“Together, we will survive, reboot, and grow toward a food-secured nation,” Dar said.