Agriculture, including Fisheries, is the country’s best hope for an immediate economic recovery after the COVID 19 Pandemic crippled almost all other sectors critical to the country’s economic growth.
By supporting local agricultural production, government could create jobs and income opportunities while at the same time stabilize food supply and prices of commodities in the market.
The biggest obstacle to this economic recovery, however, is the bias of the country’s economic planners and policy makers against Agriculture.
Just a few days ago, a news item came out describing Philippine Agriculture as a “Laggard” in the country’s economic performance citing its negligible contribution to the Gross Domestic Product over the last five years.
It was apparently a rebuttal to a post I made quoting the Philippine Statistics Authority report which said that massive rice importation under the Rice Tariffication Law failed to deliver on promised benefits.
Indeed, Agriculture has not really shown exemplary performance except for the 2017 growth of 3.95% which was the highest in decades, attributed to favorable climatic conditions during the period.
But under the Duterte Presidency, Agriculture never had a negative year posting a spectacular 3.95% positive growth in 2017 before sliding down to a negligible +0.9% growth in 2018, +0.7% in 2019 and +0.5% in 2020.
What was not mentioned in the article which effectively despised the Agriculture Sector’s performance was the budget allocated for the Department of Agriculture over the last five years when it was described as a “laggard.”
From a high of P89.1-B in 2015, DA’s budget was cut down to only P45.2-B in 2016, P45.9-B in 2017, P53.4-B in 2018 and P47.29-B in 2019.
Compared to the national budget for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 ranging from P3.7-Trillion to P4-Trillion, DA’s annual share was only about 2% of the total budget pie.
That is nowhere near the P700-B allocated for infrastructure and even lower than the dole-out program 4Ps which received an allocation of over P100-B every year.
In spite of the bias against Agriculture and the derision by the economic policy makers of its performance, the sector played the role of the turtle in the race against the rabbit.
While the Economic Managers crowed about the 6% to 7% annual economic growth boosted by the infrastructure, tourism and services sector up until the end of 2019, they failed to foresee the crippling effect of a calamity which would limit people’s movement and disrupt the supply chain.
As the COVID 19 Pandemic crushed the economy of the nation resulting in a negative 9.5% GDP and an inflation which soared to 4.5%, Agriculture proved to be the proverbial turtle in the race.
In the midst of crisis, it was the only sector which showed steady positive growth and buoyed the local economy.
The most practical move to be taken now is take a serious look at what interventions could be done to boost local agricultural production.
By refocusing the economic recovery funds from the widening of highways and the construction of decorative islands in the middle of national roads to food production in the countryside, the reversal of the economic downtrend will be immediate.
The policy of relying on importation to tame inflation must be re-assessed because it effectively takes away jobs and income opportunities from the local producers.
Our economic managers must swallow their pride and accept the reality that the under-funded and despised Agriculture sector is our best hope for an immediate economic recovery.
#NationalSurvivalOverPride!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Image of the proverbial race between the rabbit and the turtle was downloaded from Shutterstock while graphs showing the DA budget through the years were sourced from public websites.)
More Stories
Breeding Season Starts!
Practical Tips On Cattle Feeding!
Bamboo Goat House Model Now Ready For Occupancy!