Agri dept discloses own plan to bolster growth
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 16:19:30 +0000
Days after the Philippines’ economic managers unveiled its expenditure catch-up plan to boost the country’s gross domestic product to above 6 percent this year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has revealed a catch-up plan of its own aimed at reenergizing the agriculture sector and have it contribute significantly to economic growth.
In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Finance (DoF) cited Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s presentation before the recent Economic Development Cluster (EDC) meeting in saying that the plan covered 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.
Piñol was quoted to have said that he expected 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 agricultural growth by the first quarter of 2020.
For the rest of 2019, he told the EDC that his department’s catch-up plan for the crops subsector involved the early distribution of certified seeds to palay (unmilled rice) growers tilling a combined 2.2 million hectares of land.
The DA is also distributing fertilizers in areas with enough irrigation covering 42,902 ha in time for the harvest season in the second semester of this year.
With an expected rice production increment of 1 metric ton (MT) per ha, these 42,902 ha of land planted with palay is valued at P729.3 million, Piñol was quoted to have said.
Seeds and fertilizers will also be distributed to corn and sorghum growers, he added.
The DA is also targeting an expansion area of 100,000 ha each for corn and sorghum for the wet season planting, to be harvested within the second half, the Agriculture chief also said.
With these measures, Piñol said he expected about 600,000 MT of corn, worth P9.1 billion, and about 400,000 MT of sorghum, valued at P6 billion, to be produced.
He also cited the adoption of new plant varieties to protect top fruit exports, such as bananas and mangoes, from diseases, and expanding vegetable farming in some 50,000 ha of land in Mindanao.
For poultry and livestock, Piñol has proposed importing 300,000 MT of corn at zero tariff, to be sourced from countries free of the African Swine Fever (ASF).
“These should not be delivered during the bulk harvest season of the second semester, which covers the months of September [and] October,” he said.
He also proposed imposing a temporary ban on the importation of livestock for about five months to keep the local industry ASF-free.
Piñol also introduced a plan to establish in the country four dairy farm complexes, each housing 6,000 dairy cows in four locations. An estimated 36 million liters of milk, valued at P1.4 billion, are expected to be produced.
For the fisheries subsector, the DA plans to help set up 300 fish cages in each region using funds from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Lending Program. The Land Bank of the Philippines will coordinate lending across all regions in the country.
This project, Piñol said, is estimated to produce 96,000 MT of fish valued at P9.98 billion.
The DA will also continue to monitor water quality and fish stocks in brackish water and freshwater areas in relation to the effects of the El Niño [weather phenomnen], he added.
“This whole program now has to be translated into higher growth for 2019,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said.
Dominguez convened the EDC again on Tuesday to determine the DA’s plan for the second to fourth quarters, and how this sector can be a significant contributor to economic growth this year.
The sector grew by only 0.67 percent in the first three months, slower than the 1.08-percent growth in the same period last year.
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