Farming Is All About Patience, Perseverance! “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day!”

In one of the most memorable Cabinet meetings I attended as Secretary of Agriculture, I emphasized to then President Rodrigo Duterte, the Economic Team and other Secretaries that the dreamed Food Sufficiency could only be achieved through sustained and long term efforts.
“We cannot improve Agriculture overnight. There are things which we are doing today which may not even bear fruits during your Administration, Mr. President, but we have to do these or else nobody would,” I told the Full Cabinet.
My statement was in response to the recommendations of the Economic Team led by then Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to open the Philippine market to the unimpeded entry of imported rice with the approval of the Rice Tariffication Law.
I argued that flooding the market with imported rice to bring down prices would devastate the local rice industry which at that time had already achieved a 95.2% Self Sufficiency.
In the head-on clash, the Economic Team, promising Pres. Duterte that rice prices would drop by P7 per kilo with the approval of the RTL, prevailed.
Defeated and labeled as an obstructionist to the Economic Agenda, I asked to be relieved of my duties as Secretary of Agriculture which led to my reassignment to the Mindanao Development Authority.
Today, six years after the approval of the RTL, prices of rice soared from P38 in 2018 to as high as P60 per kilo today while the Rice Sufficiency Level plummeted from 95.2% to about 70% today.
Today, the authors of the Quick Fix Strategy for Food Security are nowhere to be found while we who believed in the sustained advocacy to improve Agriculture are still in the field pursuing the dream.
Today, I am deeply involved in the promotion and propagation of two very important agricultural crops, Sorghum and Soybeans, which are critical in the development of the Poultry, Livestock and Aqua Industries.
I am also involved in the advocacy to promote environmental protection through Giant Bamboo and Fruit Trees Farming, Meat Sufficiency through the promotion of Cattle, Sheep and Goats Farming and the introduction of new technology to our farmers.
There are serious challenges that we face and achieving our targets may take some time but we will persevere.
Thank you to the people who believed and supported my advocacies.
It is still a long way to go but with patience and determination, we will get there and realize the dreamed Food Sufficiency for our country.

#FarmingIsPatience!
#TreesDontBearFruitsOvernight!