By Manny Piñol
Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture
The deadly rally of farmers’ in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato who asked government to provide them with food in the face of a 6-month long drought provides us with a graphic picture of the dire consequences that this country faces if it fails to prepare for natural calamities and climatic changes.
In spite of warnings issued by PAGASA as early as two years ago that El Niño would affect vast agriculture areas in the country, the Department of Agriculture failed to lay-out plans to ensure that there would be sufficient food supply for the farmers during the months when water would be scarce and the soil dry.
El Niño, La Niña and Climate Change are realities this country must face and challenges that we all must be prepared for. Or else, we face the grim scenario of food riots in this country.
The Dept. of Agriculture under the Presidency of Rody Duterte is aware of the threat and prepared for the challenges.
There is now a paradigm shift in many of the DA’s programs and priorities.
The DA is now adopting a policy that the country must strive hard to achieve food sufficiency, especially for our basic and staple food commodities like rice, white corn, meat, poultry, fish and marine products.
The thinking that the answer to the country’s shortage on the basic food commodities is simply to import these from neighboring countries is now rendered moot by the fact that our traditional sources of imported food also experienced the ill-effects of climate change.
The question that hangs over our heads now is: Where would we source our imported food if, God forbid, El Niño or La Niña would ravage all of East Asia and Southeast Asia?
Or, where would we get our imported rice if suddenly the mighty Mekong River overflows its banks and destroys the rice crops of our traditional rice suppliers?
It has now become a must that this country has to achieve sufficiency in rice and other basic food commodities. It is no longer just a choice.
For rice, I have designed a program called RIPE or Rice Productivity Enhancement which calls for a thorough review of the country’s water management and irrigation policies, the conduct of a nation-wide soil analysis, an extensive program to improve rice farming technology, the introduction of high-yielding rice varities, effective soil rehabilitation and fertilizer program and modern harvest and post-harvest facilities to minimize losses.
There must be a viable program to produce more white corn to supply the grains requirements of the corn-eating provinces like Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Bohol, Cebu, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, the three provinces of Samar and Northern Mindanao.
For livestock and poultry, the country must develop its feed components supplies and lessen its dependence on imported materials like soya and even fishmeal to ensure that the cost of production would be lower.
For our fish and marine products sufficiency, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is now tasked to implement a nation-wide program against Illegal Fishing and a 3-month closed season during the spawning period of the distinct fish species in the different parts of the country.
A nation-wide search for the cleanest coastal communities will also be launched starting this year using the following criteria: 1) absence of illegal fishing; 2) observance of closed season; 3) well-protected marine sanctuary; 4) garbage-free coastal waters; and 5) sustained mangrove protection and rehabilitation program.
Winning coastal communities will be given Presidential Awards and livelihood funds amounting to P10-M.
Funding and support for the culture and production of high value fish species like Lapu-lapu and Maya-Maya, and commercial species like Bangus and Tilapia, shrimps, crabs and other marine products will also be intensified.
The most critical preparation for Climate Change is in the area of water conservation and management.
For Philippine Agriculture to be sustainable and climate change-resilient, trees must once again be grown in the denuded mountains and water flowing freely to the ocean must be managed and conserved in small impoundings, catchment basins and dams.
I have designed a concept in Family-Based Agro-Forestry Program anchored mainly on the idea of stakeholder-ship where an upland family is designated as the caretaker of an area which has been planted to harvestable tree species to make the program sustainable.
There will be a shift in the irrigation mindset. This administration will focus more on small and community-based irrigation projects over the highly-destructive, expensive and long-gestating mega-irrigation projects which costs billions of pesos.
The DA will also be introducing solar-powered irrigation facilities, especially in remote villages which are not connected to the grid to provide water not only for the rice fields but also for vegetable gardens and for drinking purposes and most of all, to provide electric power to the community.
The idea of using solar-powered irrigation facilities dawned upon me when I visited a Tilapia fishpond owned and managed by a Filipino-American in the middle of the desert in Southern California. Using solar panels to trigger and power his pumps, Rocky French, draws water from over 1,000 feet below the surface to supply water to his ponds located in a 25-acre property.
French is one of the most successful Tilapia farmers now in the U.S. selling live fish to as far as San Francisco to the north and earning handsomely through a technology he developed after years of hardship and sacrifices.
Three prototypes of this new concept in agricultural irrigation will soon be built in three pilot areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Vegetable production in the urban areas using the advanced Israeli Green House technology is another option in ensuring food supply in the face of the threats of Climate Change.
Under a concept called “Vegetable Gardens in the City,” urban poor families will be involved through the support of the city governments which will be the partners of the Dept. of Agriculture in the implementation of this program.
The DA has already allocated P75-M for this program this year and initially the cities of Taguig, Manila and Quezon City will be the first target areas for this program.
Backyard vegetable gardening will also be encouraged in the rural and urban areas with the DA providing technical, financial and marketing support.
The idea of establishing Tilapia fish farms along river banks instead of the fish cages in the country’s inland waters and lakes which adversely affect the ecology is now being designed in a blueprint which is expected to contribute to the country’s food sufficiency in the face of the threats of Climate Change.
Technical papers covering all of these innovations in making the country’s food production program climate change-resilient are now being finalized and will soon be presented to the Dept. of Agriculture for technical and financial support.
“By Failing to Prepare, You Are Preparing to Fail” – Benjamin Franklin.
(Photos of farmers demonstrating and drought-affected areas downloaded from Google.com)
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