Help wake up ‘sleeping giant’ agriculture sector
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 16:31:13 +0000
THE Department of Finance (DoF) on Tuesday urged stakeholders in the agribusiness industry to “think out of the box” to help policymakers rouse the country’s agriculture sector from its slumber and transform it into a key economic growth driver.
At the opening of the Sulong Pilipinas Agribusiness Summit in Davao City, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said the sector had been weak for decades, especially after 1989.
“This has prevented the entire economy from accelerating to a full gallop,” he explained.
Dominguez also said the sector’s stagnant productivity and anemic performance was a structural source of poverty in the country.
According to him, Philippine agriculture grew at an average of 1.1 percent for the past 10 years. Despite the higher overall gross domestic product growth (GDP) of 6.2 percent, the sector grew at only nine-tenths of 1 percent last year.
That said, the Finance chief emphasized that maintaining the sector’s growth by at least 2 percent annually was needed to keep ahead of the country’s annual population growth of about 1.7 percent.
“This is crucial to achieving stable food prices for all Filipinos,” he said.
Dominguez also said enhancing the growth of the sector “is like waking up a sleeping giant that will help us make larger strides in our overall economic growth.”
He added there was much growth potential in agriculture that required policy support despite agriculture-friendly reforms, such as Republic Act 11203, or the “Rice Tariffication Law.”
Signed by President Duterte on February 14, the law liberalized imports and exports of the staple. It also lowered the retail cost of rice for more than 100 million consumers and established an annual P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
The fund is aimed at boosting rice productivity by providing farmers with modern farm machinery and equipment, high-yield seeds, low-interest and accessible credit, and skills training programs on farm mechanization and modern farming techniques.
“We encourage you to think out of the box and to propose bold ideas. The country benefits from a political leadership that does not fear change,” Dominguez said.
“This is the moment to break out from the structures that trapped so many Filipinos in poverty for far too long,” he added.