DA: Raising local productionremains a priority

MANILA, Philippines — The government maintains that increasing local production is still the country’s priority amid continued criticisms that it favors importation over domestic producers.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the government continues to put a premium on protecting the interests of local farmers and fishers, and that sourcing additional food commodities outside the country remains a “last resort” policy.

“Our vision of a food-secure and resilient Philippines with prosperous farmers and fisherfolk remains amid the pandemic and onto the new normal,” Dar said.

“We will only allow imports to fill in the deficit or what we cannot produce locally,” he said.

Dar issued the statement to dismiss criticisms and perceptions that the current DA leadership “made the country food import-dependent” despite abundant land and sea resources capable of producing most of the food requirements of the population.

The DA has been getting several backlash amid the drop in palay (unhusked rice) prices due to unregulated importation. A few months ago, it dealt with the glut in chicken supply, also blamed on excessive imports.

In defense, Dar said the country’s dependency on imported food has been increasing during the past 30 years, citing latest available data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

In 2016, import-dependency was at 22.5 percent, which slightly inched up to 22.7 percent in 2017, and jumped to 29.2 percent in 2018 as local food production was not able to keep pace with population growth during that three-year period.

Also, based on PSA’s food balance sheets (FBS), the country’s self-sufficiency ratio for aggregated food commodities fell to 79.4 percent in 2018.

The FBS provides a picture of the country’s food supply during a specified reference period and provides an indication of the adequacy of food supply relative to the nutritional requirement of the population.

Increased food importation saw an annual per capita increase in the supply and consumption of cereals, meat, and sources of fat and protein.

PSA figures also show that the country has been importing several major food items, as a percentage of total national requirement, at varying rates, namely, rice at 14 percent; corn, 12 percent; pork, 14 percent; dressed chicken, six percent; beef, 39 percent; onions, 38 percent; garlic, 91 percent; coffee, 71 percent; and peanut, 75 percent.

Dar’s special adviser Fermin Adriano said low farm productivity should be blamed for the shortfall, as it has not kept pace with the population growth rate.

“While our population growth during the last decade, from 2008 to 2018, averaged 1.8 percent, our agricultural sector grew an annual average of only 1.3 percent for the same period,” Adriano said.

“In economic parlance, this is a simple case of local demand outstripping local supply. Thus, importation is a necessary recourse to ensure that our people will not go hungry,” he said.

To meet the food requirements of Filipinos, especially amid the pandemic, Dar said the DA is investing heavily in the modernization and industrialization of the local farm sector.

The DA is now veering away from the focus on specific crops toward improving overall resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability of the rural sector.