THE CHINESE LOOKS at shortcomings or problems as opportunities to be grabbed. But we look at it as a chance to diversify our sources of all our basic needs. Truly a wrong mindset.
The sustainability of agriculture and every economic endeavor is not to depend on our neighbors’ capabilities to produce for us– but we must produce for what we need locally.
The ongoing war in the Middle East since last year and that of Ukraine since 4 years ago is a constant reminder to us to strive for self-reliance. Yet, we constantly just pay lip service to such advocacy, and once things ease even a tiny bit, we revert to our parasitic habits and source almost everything abroad.
We are not lacking in land– in fact many of our lands are scorched from non-use and abandon which makes it attractive for property developers to aspire for development into high rises which are already in abominable excess while more people are being deprived of food and decent shelter.
Quoting the recent column of former DA Undersecretary Ernesto Ordonez: “During the 2008 global financial crisis, Rahm Emanuel said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” This concept, he added, appears very early in the writings of Roman philosopher Seneca (first century AD) when he wrote “misfortune is a test that allows good people to grow stronger.”
The Middle East crisis poses serious problems for Philippine agriculture. Our global supply chains are jeopardized, with less access to the agriculture imports we need. We must grow stronger by taking this opportunity to implement critical agriculture reforms, Ordonez wrote.
Considering this crisis, the four areas where we can start implementing meaningful reforms are solar energy, fertilizers, vegetable production and consolidation.
He then quoted Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto who cited the need to turn to solar energy where we can count on the sunshine that we get. She said this at the First Gen’s groundbreaking for its P2-billion Inara Solar Power Project in Tanauan.
Santos-Recto said “reusable energy is important amid global fuel shocks and this project will boost the local economy.”
Nathaniel Magsino added: “The timing of this project is strategic, diversifying energy sources through solar that can help reduce our long-term exposure to fuel stocks.”
Today, only 4,000 hectares out of our 1.2 million irrigated hectares use solar energy. We must have a long-term strategy for using solar power in our irrigation and other agriculture ventures, Ordonez said.
Our heavy dependence on imported petroleum-based chemical fertilizers is shown by the fact that only 5 to 10% of our fertilizers are locally-made. (A P2 billion plant in Sta. Rosa– the AgriSpecialist Inc. of Dr. Mario Labadan can meet the entire requirement of the country’s farms for nitrogen-fixing fertilizer Bio N yet the Department of Agriculture keeps allowing the importation of 85 to 90 percent of urea, which has made our farmlands sterile and nonproductive).
Other sources of organic fertilizers from local manufacturers are the village-level composting plants, vermiculture (earthworm compost) and biofertilizers using beneficial microbes. These would all reduce import dependence and improve our dying farmlands (from over acidity due to urea and chemical fertilizers).
A nationwide campaign with support from our critical local government units should be launched very soon, Ordonez urged.
Vegetable production
With the Middle East crisis, our access to nutritious food is further limited. Our nutrition status compares very poorly with Vietnam’s. We have 30 percent child stunting and a 5 percent to 6 percent undernourished population, he noted.
Vietnam has only 19 percent stunting and 3 percent to 4 percent undernourished. Vegetables are a key solution to our nutrition problem. We consume vegetables at an average of 120 grams a day per person, half of Vietnam’s 270 grams.
At the budget hearing, we learned that the three DA vegetable production programs can be better coordinated since they are under two different undersecretaries. However, the DA’s 1,370 Gulayans sa Bayan (GSB) sites launched last year have not yet been linked to the Department of Education’s 44,965 Gulayans sa Paaralan program. The latter covers 94 percent of public schools and are in need of the DA’s GSB vegetable technology. This must be addressed immediately.
As the war jeopardizes our agriculture imports, we must have an effective national consolidation strategy so we can effectively provide our own food. For our food security, we must import less agricultural products and export more. Last year, we imported double what we exported: $1.6 billion versus $885 million.
We must have an effective consolidation strategy for the average 0.9-hectare farms in the country. Only with economies of scale can we efficiently produce the food we need for our food security. At the budget review, it was highlighted that the sugar sector’s over P3 million per clustered hub is more effective than the rice sector’s P 300,000 consolidation plan.
The Middle East crisis endangers both our agriculture development and food security. We must now take urgent reform steps in critical areas like solar energy, fertilizers, vegetable production and consolidation. As stated earlier, we should not let a good crisis go to waste, Ordonez concluded.