Growing, growing, growing

Agriculture is consistently a vigorous contributor to the country’s gross national products (GNP). Lately, it has become much stronger. The last two years under the watch of former Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. recorded a growth rate of 4.59 percent in 2002 and 3.77 percent in 2003. This year promises to be even better as the first quarter recorded 8.2 percent, the highest growth in 15 years.

At least three million of the target six million to 10 million jobs in the next six years are expected to come from agriculture and fisheries.

This growth pattern is a stark contrast to the declining growth rates of the past three decades: From a yearly average of 5.8 percent in 1970s to 2.4 percent in the 1980s to 2.1 percent in the 1990s. All these growth patterns for the last three years are achieved through Republic Act 8435 known as Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA).

Lorenzo immediately chartered DA’s commodity road maps which serves as the course of action for each major commodity – rice, corn, livestock, coconut, sugar, fisheries and high value crops like mango, papaya, calamansi, durian and coffee.

The agriculture sector’s modernization for countryside development and improvement of the economic life of farmers and fishermen is the objective of the AFMA. It defines the policy environment and public investment initiatives for the transformation of the rural economy into a modern, science-and technology-based integrated productivity resulting in competitive quality and quantity in the domestic and global markets.

To further accelerate agricultural growth, President-Arroyo signed another law, R.A. 9281, which extends duty-free privilege granted under AFMA to importers of agricultural inputs and equipment. It also ensures continuous funding support up to 2014.

With all these government assistance agricultural productivity has been getting higher and higher in the last three years. With the use of hybrid and certified seeds and modern farm technologies, average yield per hectare for rice increased from 3.19 metric tons (MT) in 2001 to 3.28 MT in 2002 to 3.37 MT in 2003.

This year, the average yield is seen to rise to 3.56 MT per hectare. First quarter palay harvest reached 3.43 million MT representing year-on-year increase of 13.14 percent. Lorenzo says that total production this year is expected to increased by about six percent to 14.28 million MT from last year’s 13.3 million MT.

Corn harvest, too, since 2001 had been in an upswing trend with an average of 4.49 million MT annually during the past three years. For the first quarter of 2004, corn harvest recorded 1.53 million MT which is 13.37 percent higher for the same period last year.

According to Lorenzo corn production this year is expected to hit 5.2 million MT, which is 13 percent higher than the 4.6 million MT produced last year.

A major factor in the robust performance of the agriculture sector is the easy availability of countryside credit. From 2001 to 2004, Quedan and Rural Credit Corp. (Quedancor) release loans worth P5.79 billion to 595,437 farmers and fisherfolk.

Under its Ginintuang Masaganang Ani-Countrywide Assistance for Rural-Urban Employment Services (GMA-CARES) Quedancor finances farmers engaged in crop or commodity production such as inbred rice, hybrid corn, sugar, palm oil, mango, seaweeds, coconut, onion, pineapple, coffee, tomato. It also supports agricultural marketing and retail enterprises.

Some P500 million budget was allotted to a three-year program to support local hog industry‘s backyard raisers which comprise 80 percent of the sub-sector.

Lorenzo attributes the sustained robust growth in agriculture to the strong partnership between government and private sectors that includes farmers and fisherfolk. Appointed by the president as chairman of the Land Bank of the Philippines and Quedancor, he is expected to continue to play a major role in agriculture since the two agencies are the main sources of farm credit in the country.