“For
us to rise stronger from this COVID-19 crisis, the government must encourage
the development of an agriculture-driven economy”, said Department of Agriculture
(DA) Secretary William Dar during the opening of the Farmers’ and Fisherfolk ’s
Month celebration on May 26, 2020, at the DA Central Office in Quezon City.
In
pursuit of an economic response framework appropriate for this health crisis, the
Philippines’ agricultural sector is expected to play a major role in the
country’s economic recovery efforts.
Dar said economic growth in
agriculture is more effective at reducing poverty and food insecurity compared
with growth in other sectors. He added that investment in agriculture can help
revive food production and create jobs following a crisis and enable rural communities
to recover, stressing that the agri-fishery sector plays a key role in mitigating the
effects of the pandemic on food production, market access, and rural
employment.
DA is pursuing the PHP 66-Billion
stimulus package under Plant, Plant, Plant program by rolling out immediate
interventions on food production and availability, food accessibility and
affordability, and food price stabilization. This proposal is currently
deliberated in Congress as part of the proposed Philippine Economic Stimulus
Act.
The Plant, Plant, Plant
Program aims to increase productivity and ensure food sufficiency during the
COVID-19 emergency situation. This will benefit all farmers, fishers, and even
consumers nationwide.
“This
is where our eight paradigms under the ‘new thinking for agriculture’ come into
play, namely: modernization, industrialization, export promotion, farm
consolidation, infrastructure development, higher budget and investments for
agriculture, legislative support, and roadmap development”, he said.
Dar strongly
believes that growing this country’s agriculture and fishery sector to its
optimum potential, will attract more investments and resources, ensuring food
sufficiency levels, and at the same time modernizing and industrializing the
country’s agri-fishery sector.
“With
the help of the private sector and LGUs, we hope to improve our productivity
and food supply chain through farm consolidation and clustering, provision of
accessible financing, stronger linkages between production and marketing, and
establishment of more post-harvest and processing facilities”, Dar
concluded.
Source: “Agriculture to
play key role in Covid-19 recovery efforts”, 05/26/2020, News Article, Department
of Agriculture Official Website (da.gov.ph)
