Go Negosyo founder and Private Sector Advisory Council or PSAC Lead for Jobs Joey Concepcion strongly supports President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s decision to remain as Agricultural Secretary until the required structural reforms are instituted to make the country’s agriculture sector more efficient and competitive.
President Marcos made the remark in a recent event with the Department of Agriculture.
“Staying as the lead for agriculture is a smart decision from the President. He can quickly make reforms and ensure that all systems are in place to help the country’s farmers just like what his father did during his term,” Concepcion said.
Passionate about transforming industry
“Having met the President several times to discuss Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Angat Lahat Agri Program KALAP, I know that he cares for the farmers, and he is passionate about transforming the industry. In time, this will be his legacy,” he added.
Concepcion said he is also highly supportive of the President’s program of encouraging farm clustering as an important component of his administration’s agricultural modernization thrust, as the latter pronounced during his recent meeting with South Cotabato farmers.
He underscored the importance of farm clustering to boost productivity, ensure food security and increase the income of farmers.
Farm clustering was among those recommended by Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Angat Lahat Program Agri Program and think tank group Foundation for Economic Freedom during their meeting with Department of Agrarian Reform officials, led by Secretary Conrado Estrella III.
“For the period 2001-2021, the annual average contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product is just 0.3 percent while industry and the service sectors contributed 1.4 percent 3.1 percent, respectively. This is not acceptable since the asset base of agriculture in terms of land use is huge compared to that of industry and service,” Concepcion said.
Scale needed
“Philippine agriculture needs scale. We need clustering to achieve this. For this to become a reality, titling of land needs to be cleaned up,” he added.
Through clustering, Concepcion said farming would be attractive to big companies because the latter only want to lease agricultural lands and not purchase them.
Farm clustering would also serve as the best complement to the reforms and programs being initiated by the President as concurrent Department of Agriculture Secretary, to enhance food security, boost the agriculture sector and uplift the lives of farmers.
“It is different if the President himself is at the helm of the Agriculture Department. Also, he has good people implementing his vision for the country, like Agrarian Reform Secretary Estrella and other government agencies,” Concepcion said.
“KALAP and the private sector, composed of big brothers in the agri sector, including Dr. Fermin Adriano of FEF, are always here to offer their expertise to help the President attain his vision,” he added.
Through farm clustering, it would be easier for the government to provide assistance to farmers, such as loans and farm machinery, because it would deal with groups rather than with individual tillers, FEF representative Dr. Fermin Adriano explained during his meeting with DAR.
“The process will pave the way for the use of modern farm machinery and technologies, thereby achieving economies of scale, and allow the development of downstream industries, such as food processing, due to adequate and reliable supply of raw materials,” Adriano stressed.
Clustering equals higher yields
Other countries that have implemented farm clustering, such as China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, have all enjoyed higher yields.
In an opinion piece he wrote, Adriano batted for the immediate and proper implementation of the law condoning the debt of defaulting agrarian reform beneficiaries or ARB.
“The challenge now is to formulate implementing rules and regulations that will facilitate awarding of individual land titles. This means the process should not be burdensome for the ARBs,” Adriano said in his column.
He also called for the implementation of a higher land retention ceiling, currently at five hectares for a couple tilling the land and three hectares for an individual cultivator.
“The proposal of the FEF is to raise it to at least 24 hectares in accordance with the ceiling provided for the homesteaders program of the past. If adopted, this will promote the rise of Filipino middle-class farmers or ‘family-operated farms,’ he said.