The Department of Agriculture has strengthened its partnership with Grow Asia as the country continues its push to improve smallholder farmers’ production through greater access to markets and finance, as well as knowledge and information.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol on Tuesday received visiting Executive Director Grahame Dixie, a career agricultural development practitioner for over 35 years who took the helm of Grow Asia in November last year.
Dixie is pushing the unique multi-stakeholder regional partnership, launched in 2015 by the World Economic Forum and ASEAN Secretariat, towards the “ambitious goal of reaching 10 million smallholder farmers by 2020 through inclusive and sustainable value-chains.”
The DA’s goal of attaining food security and sustainable agricultural growth received a boost in 2015 after it launched a new initiative with Grow Asia called the Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (PPSA).
Piñol accepted the invitation of Grow Asia and PPSA to Co-chair the PPSA Core Committee with the CEO and Chairman of Uniliver Philippines.
To assist in the execution of the department’s priorities, PPSA has aligned its activities with the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) and partnered with almost 80 organizations, focusing on developing roadmaps, plans and strategies for priority agri-fisheries commodities by forming four working groups.
These are for coffee, corn, coconut, and fisheries boosted by private stakeholders such as Uniliver Philippines for coconut, Nestlé for coffee and Pioneer for corn. The Coffee Working Group seeks the creation of the Philippine Coffee Council to help stakeholders effectively address the industry’s concerns.
“Hopefully, we are able to launch a working group on rice,” Dixie assured the Secretary. “We also have some projects with other crops such as cassava and cacao.”
Piñol stressed during the meeting that he is keen on improving the country’s rice production, saying Filipinos must not depend on rice imports.
With the effects of climate change so unpredictable, Piñol said that if rice-producing countries were hit by El Nino, “where could we get our rice?”
“Farmers need to know that the key is productivity,” Piñol said.
He also said the department is prioritizing the use of hybrid seeds, improvement of irrigation systems, greater mechanization as well as accessible credit facility for farmers and fisherfolk.
He stressed that the DA’s role is not just to produce food but also to address poverty. “We have to lessen production cost to increase farmers’ income,” he said.
Grow Asia-PPSA has projects in Surigao Del Norte, which aim to boost the value-chain for robusta coffee, and just recently began projects for corn farmers in Zamboanga Del Norte and coconut farmers in the Soccsksargen region.
Piñol said he would direct Undersecretary for High Value Crops Evelyn Laviña to closely work with Grow Asia as his alternate. (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
Reference:
International Affairs Division, DA
Direct Line (+63) (02) 920 40 86 to 87
