DA PROJECTS 3.5% AGRI, FISHERIES GROWTH IN 2019

By Adora Rodriguez

DA-AFID

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol is positive that the rice and corn subsectors will rebound by the first semester of 2019 from the devastation of Super Typhoon Ompong 3rd Quarter of 2018.

For the whole year of 2019, Agriculture and Fisheries are expected to post growth of between 2.5% to 3.5%, way above the national target of 2%.

The main factors behind the projected positive growth are the Rice Tariffication Program which assures the rice sector of P10-B additional funding every year, the grains production program including the Sorghum Development Program, the livestock and poultry sector and the aggressive aquaculture program in the fisheries sector.

“For rice, we expect an increase in harvest from 19.1 million metric tons (MMT) to 20MMT in the first half of next year,” the agri chief announced.

Piñol added that the Department of Agriculture will maximize the use of the P10-B Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) from the Rice Tariffication Act for mechanization, provision of good quality seeds and credit assistance.

Of the amount, P5-B will be used for the procurement of farm implements and equipment, P3-B to provide farmers with good quality seeds, P1-B for credit through the Land Bank of the Philippines or Development Bank of the Philippines and P1-B for training and capacity building.

“We will also be adjusting the planting calendar for rice to cope up with the climate change,” the Secretary said.

Historical data shows that typhoon season now falls on the months of September and October.

“As such, we will adjust to avoid October harvest,” Piñol said.

The Secretary also announced that the Department will utilize lands for rice production that are not prone to typhoon.

Dubbed as the Southern Swing, expansion areas for rice will be established in Samar, Negros Island, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga, Tawi-tawi, some parts of Central Mindanao, Leyte, Bohol, Mindoro Island and Palawan.

“Samar, for example, has very fertile soil and sufficient water resources from their river system,” he said.

The Secretary is set to visit the province today Dec. 20 for the launch of the 100,000 hectare rice demo farm under a private and public partnership.

Philippine agriculture fared well for 2018 at 0.15% increase, with growth from both the livestock and poultry subsectors.

With the sustained demand for meat processing and the efficient control of diseases, livestock grew by 2.15%, while poultry scored a 5.45% increase.

However, a decrease in production is noted for crops and fisheries, which suffered a lost of 3.64% and 2.64% respectively.

For rice, the biggest contributors for the decrease were the bad weather conditions and delay in planting due to rehabilitation of irrigation facilities and late rainfall.

While the downtrend in the fish subsector can be attributed to the limited supply of fingerlings, hesitation to place stocks because of possible demolition of fish pens in Laguna de Bay, white spot disease caused by water pollution and reduced number of fishing days due to strong winds and rough seas.

However, the DA management team is positive that with the financing programs such as the Production Loan Easy Access Program (PLEA), the Survival and Recovery Assistance Program (SURE) and the Machineries and Equipment Loan Program, farmers and fishers will improve production, and performance of Philippine Agriculture will greatly improve.

Under PLEA, a total of P1.143 billion has been released to 36,716 borrowers from 45 provinces, while SURE released a total of P109.29 million to more than 9,400 borrowers from provinces affected by natural calamities.

The PLEA program has a repayment rate of 97% since its launching in June 2017.

It had been identified by the Philippine Statistics Authority as one of the most successful productivity and anti-poverty programs of government.

Also, under the new credit program for farm machineries and equipment, the government has set aside a total of P400-M in credit funds.

From these, the farmers or fishers may borrow money to be used for the procurement of machineries of their preferred brand, as long as it is included in the DA-approved machinery packages eligible for financing.

(Photos by Darius Mangampo)