Food Repositioning! Established 54 Years Ago, FTI Needed To Face Crisis

Dressed broiler chicken is sold for P128 per kilo in Central Luzon but it is priced as high as P175 in Bacolod City, Lacatan Banana is P20 per kilo in Cotabato and P80 in Romblon while Bulb Onion in Mindoro is bought for only P14 per kilo but fetches as much as P100 per kilo in Mindanao.
In tomato-producing Nueva Viscaya and vegetable powerhouse Cordillera, farmers dump their products because of very low buying prices during peak harvest season while Galunggong sells for P70 per kilo in Maluso, Basilan but in Metro Manila it is P280 per kilo.
The biggest challenge for Food Self-Sufficiency in a geographically fragmented country of over 7,000 islands is not really how to produce food but how to bring the goods to areas where these are needed.
The very high cost of moving excess food production from one area to where it is needed is what stunts the growth of agriculture and fisheries in the Philippines.
What is totally appalling is that until today, many of our economic planners still have not realized that the only way to boost the production of food in the country is to facilitate its repositioning.
Linking farmers and consumers directly was a concept that was started by President Ferdinand Marcos 54 years ago when he founded the Greater Manila Terminal Food Market, later known as the Food Terminal Inc., a government owned and controlled corporation based in an area of over 100 hectares in Taguig, Metro Manila.
Placed under the National Food Authority, FTI’s mission was to
“provide accessible and modern facilities for agricultural producers to link with consumer and promote price stability” while its vision was to be the “leading food processing and distribution hub in strategic locations nationwide.”
The FTI concept was simply a macro version of the traditional weekend farmers market in the remote towns and villages of the country where farmers sell their produce directly to consumers.
When I was Governor of Cotabato, then Secretary of Agriculture and later Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority, I copied the FTI concept by bringing farm products directly to the big cities.
Cotabato province had an annual “Fruit Festival” at SM Megamall, the DA held the “DA Tienda” while MinDA introduced goods from Mindanao through the “MinDATienda.”
The FTI is what we need today to ensure the availability fo food supplies at lower prices with government facilitating the movement of goods.
Unfortunately, FTI became a victim of politics and following the ouster of the older Marcos in 1986, the idea was abandoned and later a huge part of the land in Taguig was sold to Ayala Inc.
At the start of the Duterte Presidency, I had wanted to reactivate the FTI but since it was a GOCC under the NFA, it was directly under the Office of the President.
It was only in September 2018, following the artificial rice crisis, when NFA, along with the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority, was transferred back to the Department of Agriculture.
By January 2019, I had meetings with the FTI executives to revive and expand the operations of FTI all over the country but on June 26, 2019, following my public disagreements with the Economic Managers mainly over the issue of Rice Tariffication, I resigned as Agriculture Secretary.
Today, as the country and the world faces a food crisis, there is a need for FTI to be revived to buy, process, reposition and directly sell at least the five basic products needed by Filipino families – Rice, Meat including poultry, fish and marine products, vegetables and fruits.
The basic infrastructure needed for the opening of the food consolidation centers complete with cold storage is already existing as there are hundreds of NFA Buying Stations all over the country which are currently underused.
With FTI buying stations in the provinces where farm inputs and materials needed by the farmers and fishermen would also be made available at low prices, all that is needed is the opening of Farmers and Fishermen’s Outlets in Metro Manila and other big cities to complete the value chain.
A ready market offering guaranteed prices for farmers and fishermen will surely stimulate and increase productivity.
FTI, a 54-year-old idea in connecting producers and consumers, becomes relevant today as the world faces the specter of a food shortage.
What adds color to this is the fact that FTI, a creation of the older Ferdinand Marcos, becomes relevant again as his son and namesake, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the new President faces the challenge of how to ensure enough food supply for his people.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#BrightIdeasLastForever!