Agriculture reforms must focus on fixing logistics issues, experts say

DURING the BusinessWorld Insights forum on Thursday themed “Growing Food Security Through Agribusiness,” agricultural experts said that there is a need for more reforms to the agriculture sector in order to increase farmers’ productivity and revenue.

Any attempt at reforming agriculture needs to start with reviewing logistics issues with the aim of creating a seamless value chain going both ways — inputs reaching the farmers as well as produce going out, from consolidator to processor to exporter, industry officials said at the BusinessWorld Insights forum last week.

At the forum, known as “Growing Food Security Through Agribusiness,” William D. Dar, senior adviser for Agriculture and Food Security at the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and a former Agriculture Secretary, said key to evaluating logistics issues is examining the farm-to-market network.

“I believe that we have the opportunity to dissect the whole farm-to-market systems and whether or not the programs and projects that we have today, both government and private, are good enough,” Mr. Dar said at the same forum.

From there, Mr. Dar said the government must ensure that farmers develop the capacity to engage with the private sector, which will also involve improving the investment climate to encourage investors to take the plunge.

Danilo V. Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., said port congestion is an issue for the industry, and recommended a network of barges capable of transporting about 100 containers at a time to bypass the queue.

Emmalyn J. Guinto, officer-in-charge and director of Program Development, Monitoring, and Capacity Building Service of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, said the financial aspects must be addressed to help farmers become agricultural entrepreneurs.

“We have to have the mechanisms like insurance, guarantee, and other support mechanisms, training, capacity-building, and of course, the partnership with the private sector, so that we will ensure that farmers and fisherfolk will be successful and transform themselves of not just being farmers but agri-entrepreneurs,” Ms. Guinto said.

Michael L. Melendres, president and chief operations officer of OrganicOptions, Inc., concurred, saying that access to credit is critical, particularly for those parts of the industry unable to qualify for bank credit.

“If we want to liberalize credit and make it accessible, we should look at the borrower that is unable to qualify (for a bank loan),” Mr. Melendres said.

Juan Victor I. Hernandez, president and chief executive officer of Metro Pacific Agro Ventures, Inc., said longer-term, the industry needs “to get the younger generation involved in farming.”

“If the younger generation still thinks that the agri sector is hard, because ‘it’s too hot to work in the fields,’ they will turn away and choose to become call center agents, nurses, or doctors,” he said, adding that unless agriculture is made “sexy” to the young, then “you will not have the right reform.” — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza