The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) is now implementing a program called “One MinDa, One Data” which aims to establish a database for all of our development undertakings in the Southern Philippines.
For agriculture, for example, we are compiling all profiles of farmers, their farm locations, their produce, their expected volume of harvests and challenges, like access to the market and infrastructure needs.
I have always believed that guided by accurate data, government could implement responsive and meaningful interventions especially in times of crisis.
As we are confronted by the a world-wide Pandemic, the most urgent need now is to have an accurate inventory of how much food reserves we have, the projected consumption, the expected production and where would be the sources of the food supplies.
Shortly before the Presidential Elections of 2016, I was able to rush a publication of a book, Feeding Millions, which basically spelled out the thrusts in Agriculture and Fisheries under the next administration.
The book was actually a product of the many intellectual sparring I had with then Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, long before he took up the challenge and vie for the Presidency.
Among the top three issues discussed in the book were the establishment of an easily-accessible digital tool which farmers and agricultural investors could use to guide them on what to plant and where.
This gave birth to the program called National Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map which is accessible through www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph which was completed in the first 8 months of the Duterte Presidency and launched on March 7, 2017.
The other issue was availability of low-interest financing for agriculture and fisheries stakeholders which was launched on June 23, 2017 in Malimono, Surigao del Norte.
The financing program came in three schemes – the Production Lean Easy Access (PLEA), the Survival and Recovery Loan Program (SURE) and the Agriculture and Fisheries Machinery and Equipment Loan Program (AFME).
What I considered to be one of the most important advocacies implemented by the Duterte Presidency was written in Chapter 3 of the book and this was called the “National Food Consumption Quantification Study.”
Essentially, the NFCQS emphasized the need for a National Food Security Program database which would indicate food consumption and food production which would then be extrapolated covering the next 50 years.
When I presented the concept to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, they embraced the idea and provided a $300,000 funding to conduct the study.
The study, which was started in 2018, is on-going and while it may not have provided the needed data as we confront the food security concerns in the face of the current COVID-19 Pandemic, it will certainly make us more prepared for the next crisis.
I am sharing these thoughts to emphasize the need for accurate data on food consumption and production so that the requirements of the country’s growing population could be well projected and prepared for.
Let me end with these quotes:
“A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.” ― Confucius, Chinese philosopher.
“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” ― Richard Cushing, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
(First photo was downloaded from the Manila Bulletin website.)
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