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Agriculture agenda, anyone?

“Hear once the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world” – Ralph Waldo Anderson

It is coming to a full circle. We hear and hear the same rhetoric but only reworded perhaps in a more pleasing fashion. On October 1-8 aspiring public servants filed their certificate of candidacies, and were given a brief time to present to the media their reasons as an “opportunity” for becoming public servants. I was expecting, especially from the “senatoriables,” to present their agenda including “re-electionists” but very few have done it, but mostly, to no avail.

An opportunity to initially lay down the purpose as the true essence of public service in a democratic process we undertake every three years. This is to provide the electorate a sense who truly deserve our trust amidst the overwhelming manifestations of political dynasties this country has gone numb to. But does agriculture take its place in a candidate’s agenda if he has by any chance – its present state and our embattled small farmers?

STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN

Major considerations for the midterm elections our public servants – local and national must consider and perhaps ponder upon why agriculture must be in their agenda. In his two consecutive State of the Nation addresses the President has committed to provide “long-term solutions to the problems hounding the country’s agriculture sector as a key to building a strong economy. He makes this as his single highest priority because according to him, “you cannot build a strong economy unless you have a foundation of a robust agricultural sector, which assures food supply even in emergencies”. This is sustainability and food security. But is it underway, and he says “that’s what we are doing right now.”

Look at the potential of Philippine agriculture. We have a total agricultural land area of 13.5 million hectares as of last year’s report by the agriculture department, and out of this total production we were able to harvest crops from 13.30 million hectares in 2019. This was more than 90%. Moreover, the sector consistently contributes not less than 20% to our gross domestic product and provides 18% employment out of the total labor force of the country.

Next year’s proposed budget for the agriculture sector is P513.8 billion – a clear manifestation of this administration’s real pursuit of food security, sustainable and modernized agriculture. But whether it is approved and implemented to the fullest is another story. The Philippines labeled as an agricultural country is a given and its potentials by next year and beyond are vast.

Agricultural planners envision transforming the Philippine’s farming and food systems, crucial at food value chains which are affordable and healthy, significantly contributing to a vibrant rural economy. But achieving this is a daunting task that needs to hurdle productivity challenges, access to capital by the small farmers, increasing export capacity, increasing its diversity and the worsening climate change.

RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

Our public officials and servants, including the midterm elections candidates must respond astutely and steadfastly in addressing these challenges. One major challenge to be seriously undertaken by the lawmakers is the oversight function after approval of the proposed budget of our government agencies and instrumentalities. Approved budget must be monitored to its full implementation and making sure allocated budget is used properly free from corruption.

Equally important is the enforcement of existing agricultural laws favorable to the sector, especially to the small farmers and revisiting and rethinking of the same and other policies such as importation policies detrimental to the economy. This does not encourage sustainability and productivity. A couple of cases in point are the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization needs implementation assessment and the Rice Tariffication Act of 2019 seen as a bridge measure rather than a long term solution to the rice problem which pursues importation policy rather than productivity and sustainability of the small farmers.

The campaign period has not started yet, but all media platforms are already full of political gimmicks and acrobatics. Yes, projection is important I must agree, but a candidate projecting himself with his agenda is a much better option. The Philippine electoral system as a democratic process is believed to be a “money politics” exercise but a consistent advocacy campaign of a candidate as an antidote to it exemplifies above all else.

That is the mark of a true public servant. Should anyone be courageous enough to defy the “conventional,” I urge them to include agriculture. Then it is not conventional at all, it is what it should be.*

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