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Loren calls for coordinated efforts to respond to impending crises in agriculture sector
February 2, 2010 12:00 NN
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, 01 Feb 2010 - Senator Loren Legarda called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to strengthen its coordination with local government units and private sector organizations in dealing with an impending water shortage arising from the El Nino phenomenon now affecting the country.
Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and the Senate Oversight Committee on Climate Change said the DA should make good use of the rehabilitation fund Congress allotted last year after Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng hit the Philippines and devastated irrigation facilities many of which were beyond repair.
Congress approved a P12-billion unprogrammed fund for rehabilitation of the damages of Ondoy and Pepeng, including damages in crops, livestock and fisheries. The DA proposed P4.9 billion out of the amount for damages in agriculture and realigned a total of P1.8 billion from its regular 2009 budget for the same purpose.
“These funds should be judiciously used. These funds will surely be useful this election season since these are rehab money but I hope the DA will ensure that every cent will be used to protect our farmers and fisherfolk in recovering losses from Ondoy and Pepeng and in preparing for El Niño,” Loren said.
The lady senator added we have to protect the agriculture sector from the ill effects of the El Nino phenomenon amid concerns that a severe drought might cause more than P10 billion in production losses.
The Department of Agriculture has recommended such measures as cloud seeding, improved water management in dams and reservoirs, and strengthening of shallow tube wells and communal irrigation programs complemented by a strong extension and credit programs that will enable farmers to buy production inputs such as high yielding seeds and fertilizers.
Legarda said that this highlights the need for better coordination among national government agencies like the DA, local government units, and private organizations, so that the interventions will have minimal leakages and really reach the target beneficiaries.
“Food security and farm productivity is a shared goal, therefore each sector has a stake in those goals. They should be mobilized to put up their counterpart contributions, pecuniary or otherwise.
Farmer organizations can contribute labor. Further, they should be active involved to increase transparency and accountability in all transactions, and to make sure resources are used according to the purpose for which they have been budgeted," Loren declared.
The current sugar situation is another case in point. Coordination is needed between government and the private sector. Production shortfalls primarily caused by heavy rains in India and Brazil have pushed world sugar prices to a 29-year high, nearly tripling in the past year.
This could have been a good profit opportunity, but the Philippines’ own supply of sugar has also been aggravated by climate change and land reform. Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, says that the smaller sizes of sugar farms are no longer economical and efficient, leading sugar production to drop from three million tons per crop.
“Given the current situation, we have to provide strong public research and extension support to small producers. The Philippine system of research, development and extension for agriculture has a huge potential that is not being maximized because the network is outdated, and burdened with conflicting interests. We need to reconcile all those interests, and enable all to contribute to common goals: the Department of Agriculture, local government units and private organizations,” Loren said.
