No excuses! We have 1st class agriculture
institutions in the Philippines: IRRI, PhilRice, UP Los Baños – and we produce very
much less rice than we eat!
How can the leaders of government – PH President and
Department of Agriculture officials – face anybody with a happy face?
Surprise! I googled for
Philippines Agriculture "Main Problem" OR "Major Problem"
Exactly as you see in the above 2nd line, word-for-word and
quote-to-quote, and I was surprised with the news item by an unnamed reporter
titled “Facing The Big Challenges In Philippine Agriculture” (05 June 2022, DA,
da.gov.ph)
– it’s my favorite Secretary of Agriculture: William
Dar! How lucky can you get?!
(image, da.gov.ph)
Visioning and
Missioning. Not since 2022
when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr unceremoniously replaced Mr
Dar as Secretary of Agriculture, followed by Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr, has there been Visioning and
Missioning at the DA. Not smart-enough
leadership.
Rey
Gamboa says, “‘New Thinking’
In Agri Still Our Best Bet” (13 April 2021, PhilStar,
philstar.com):
Dar, who was appointed to lead the Department of
Agriculture in 2019 … had espoused to reorient his bureaucratic machinery,
mainly by introducing a new thinking in agricultural development to achieve
food security and boost the sector’s diminishing contribution to the overall
economic growth.
You need “New Thinking,
Philippines” – World’s #1 rice importer!
His formula calls for a shift from the government’s
heavy support of a few selected crops – mainly through subsidies on inputs… –
to the overall improvement of the
whole agricultural sector focusing on profitability and sustainability.
When Mr Dar was
appointed by Pres Rodrigo Duterte
as Secretary of Agriculture, former NEDA Head and now Inquirer columnist Cielito
F Habito said (09 Aug 2019, “Dar’s Paradigm Shifts,”opinion.inquirer.net):
We now have a true and seasoned agricultural expert at
the helm of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the person of Dr William Dar,
whose reputation precedes him. This brings forth hope that true change is
coming in the sector that has been the biggest drag on the Philippine economy
for far too long.
Secretary Dar espouses “new thinking” in his approach
to managing Philippine agriculture, organized around eight “paradigms”:
(1) modernization of agriculture; (2)
industrialization of agriculture; (3) promotion of exports; (4) farm
consolidation; (5) roadmap development; (6) infrastructure development; (7)
higher budget and investments for agriculture; and (8) legislative support.
It thus heartens me to see the five paradigm shifts
our team had suggested to the department nine years ago finding their way into
Secretary Dar’s eight.
PH – we need a
tectonic paradigm shift!
I’ve known Secretary Dar for years, and I know he
knows that his mission is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.
And even as his foremost constituency is our nation’s farmers, he is quite
aware that, ultimately, he serves all of the Filipino people as a whole.”
Excellent! I say.@517
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