Coalition calls for crisis plan for agriculture, fisheries sector

MANILA, Philippines — A coalition of agriculture groups are pushing for a crisis response plan in agriculture and fisheries in the first 100 days to six months of the Marcos administration.

In a letter to President Marcos, the coalition offered help in crafting a strategic agriculture, food sufficiency and trade policy as it proposed a seven-point crisis response plan.

The submitted plan includes emergency measures that could be done to avert the further decline of the sector and achieve a higher level of self-reliance and food sufficiency within the next 100 days to six months.

The coalition is calling for the immediate convening of a task force within the Department of Agriculture to carry out the seven-point Crisis Response Plan.

It said the action plan should be anchored on social justice and a sound and strong national industrial policy in the coming months.

“In the first six months of President Marcos, we hope that he will agree with this agenda as this will lay the foundation for a long-term agriculture policy that will benefit the country’s small farm holders and fisherfolk. This foundation will also hopefully meet his goal of food self-sufficiency through which we can boost our local production,” Bayanihan sa Agrikultura convenor and former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor said.

The coalition called for the increase in the budget for agriculture by at least double next year and by one percent annually until the end of Marcos’ term.

On the agriculture budget, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) urged the government to allocate at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture and food production.

“This is the GDP share of agriculture in the national economy,” it said.

The Bayanihan sa Agrikultura also sought the revamp of the structure of the Department of Agriculture (DA), and a review of current agricultural laws, projects, and processes.

“We support the increase of the budget share of agriculture in the 2023 budget, but we would also move for the investigation of personalities inside the department that were named in the Senate investigation on agriculture importation, the audit of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, irrigation, procurement process, and the mindless agriculture and fish importation under the previous administration” said Ria Miclat-Teves, one of the convenors of the coalition.

Last week, a committee report on the Senate investigation into large-scale agricultural smuggling listed 22 individuals, including the chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), either as suspected smugglers or their protectors.

Meanwhile, Bayanihan sa Agrikultura also raised the immediate implementation of programs to directly benefit small coco farmers under the Coconut Famers and Industry Trust Fund Act.

The KMP concurred, noting that the government should appoint genuine farmer-representatives in the management and utilization of coconut levy funds and assets.

“Cooperate with a people’s oversight mechanism on the use of coconut levy funds and assets,” it said.

Additionally, Bayanihan sa Agrikultura recommended to the national government to maximize partnerships between local government units and civil society organizations and state universities and colleges in the effective implementation and monitoring of long-term projects.

For the President’s legislative agenda, the coalition recommended a review of the Rice Tariffication Law, revision of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 172 to ensure that the fund for the development of the coconut industry is exclusively used for the benefit of coconut farmers, establishment of the Department of Oceans and Fisheries, passage of a National Land and Water Use Law and the issuance of an Executive Order or Administrative Order declaring all municipal waters already mapped by National Mapping and Resource Information Administration (NAMRIA) as exclusive to small fishers.