The Department of Agriculture-High Value Crops Development Program (DA-HVCDP) led the celebration of the 3rd High Value Crops (HVC) Week with the theme, “Green Revolution: Road Towards Exportation” on April 17–21, 2023.
The HVC week is celebrated every April to mark the implementation anniversary of the Republic Act 7900 or the High-Value Crops Development Act of 1995, which aims at promoting the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of high-value crops. “
Our theme this year responds to the direction of our President and our DA Secretary, His Excellency President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., to lead the way in order for us to make our strategies congruent to strategizing, clustering, and optimizing towards becoming more export-oriented and being quality competitive,” DA-HVCDP Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban said.
He added that not all Philippine crops are currently positioned for export, but there are definitely bright spots. He also recognized the support of the stakeholders including the producers and exporters as DA partners in elevating the export potential of local agri-fishery commodities through the years.
Senator and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform Chairperson Cynthia Villar, in her message, expressed her support to the implementation of the DA-HVCDP.
“We should give more emphasis now to the high value crops,” she said.
The Senator cited findings that as an economy grows, it tends to move out of subsistence food crop production to a diversified market-oriented production system. She added that economic development in other countries has been accompanied by a shift in the product mix from food staples to high value crops, livestock, and poultry.
Following this year’s HVC Week theme, the HVCDP will showcase success stories and efforts toward increasing the sufficiency of HVC commodities, developing the industries, and eventually marking the position of Philippine high-value crops in the world market.
The celebration also aims to encourage more Filipinos to engage in high-value crops farming, processing, and/or exporting activities for higher income and to promote good agricultural practices and systems to achieve the production of export-grade agri products. ### (Gumamela Celes Bejarin, DA-AFID)
