Averting Food Crisis! PFMJr. Must Handle DA To Attain Food Sufficiency

In the face of an impending Global Food Crisis, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., must take full control and set the direction for Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries to ensure Food Self-Sufficiency and save the country from a food shortage.
With the President handling the Department of Agriculture, all the support the sector needs to boost food production would naturally be made available by all other agencies, especially those managing and apportioning the annual budget, the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC).
This was what undermined the Food Program under the present administration where, even with President Rodrigo Duterte’s public pronouncements of support for Agriculture, the Economic Managers led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez embraced Neo-Liberal Economic Policies which relied more on importation.
The Pro-Importation Policy espoused by the Economic Managers, including the unimpeded inflow of imported rice which made life difficult for the Filipino farmers, backfired as prices of commodities continued to rise as the global food supply was disrupted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and lately the Ukraine Crisis.
The beautiful tale of lower food prices made by the Economic Managers in convincing President Duterte to approve the controversial Rice Tariffication Law literally exploded and splattered in their faces.
Now that it has been proven that reliance and dependence on importation which was the mantra of the Economic Managers under this administration was an ill-planned strategy, local production is the only option left for government in preparing for the Global Food Crisis.
The new President has formed an Economic Team, including a National Security Adviser, Sec. Clarita Carlos, that is largely composed of pro-Agriculture officials but a danger lurks as the head of the team, incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, had publicly declared his disdain for Agriculture in previous statements calling it a “sunset industry” when he was Budget Secretary.
The only assurance for a successful Food Security Program will be the new President’s direct involvement in Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) which had lately been badly maligned because of controversies involving corruption and unjustified food importation still has many upright and experienced career officials who could backstop the President.
The next six years could yet see the development of Philippine Agriculture to the same level reached by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, the new President’s father and namesake, who was backstopped by bright minds like Arturo Tanco and Rafael Salas.
The Food Self-Sufficiency Dream could be achieved.
We have the land, the long coastal areas, the resources and the farmers and fishermen who only need to be inspired.
#LetThePresidentLeadAgri!
(File photos show President-Elect Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and the late President Ferdinand Marcos planting rice.)