By Chelsey Keith P. Ignacio, Special Features and Content Senior Writer
In ensuring food security among communities, the agriculture sector serves an essential role, being the provider of food to the country.
As several Filipino households deal with food insecurity, Philippine agriculture also faces many challenges. The ongoing issues in the sector and the plans and initiatives to address these and to bring food security to Filipinos were delved into in a panel discussion on “Delivering Food Security and Sustainability” during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum on May 25.
“We continue to have lingering challenges: low productivity, low level of mechanization, weak research and development, extension services [are] very weak, weak linkage to the value chain, and so forth and so on,” said Mercedita A. Sombilla, an undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Among other challenges that agriculture faced in recent years were pests and diseases among plants and animals. Climate change is another concern that has to be addressed in the following decades.
Ms. Sombilla also pointed out the weak biosecurity, infrastructure, and connectivity, as well as the poor post-harvest facilities in the country.
A big portion of the issue of food security is the low productivity level… Majority of the subsectors of agriculture in the country have the same story. If we can improve technologies and practices, we can improve productivity in agriculture.
— JUAN VICTOR HERNANDEZ, President & CEO, Metro Pacific Logistics Company, Inc. and METRO PACIFIC AGRO VENTURES, INC.
Meanwhile, Metro Pacific Agro Ventures, Inc. (MPAV) President and CEO Juan Victor Hernandez showed the issues on the lower production in certain agricultural subsectors in the Philippines, compared to the yields in other countries.
Looking at the dairy segment, Mr. Hernandez shared that the average liters of milk per cow each day amounted to around eight to 11 liters in the country. This is way far off from the global average, which is at 40 liters.
Furthermore, the average shelf life of fresh milk was at seven days in the Philippines. Papua New Guinea, whereas, has 21 days of shelf life for its milk.
“In Papua New Guinea, our partners were able to achieve 21 days in terms of shelf life, just because it is fully automated from milking the cow all the way to getting the milk packaged. No human intervention, so there is no contamination, and they were able to increase the shelf life of their fresh milk products to 21 days,” Mr. Hernandez shared.
“[I]f Papua New Guinea can do it, the Philippines should be able to do it. If we study the technology and the practices, the plan is to bring it here to the Philippines. And from my perspective, even if we just doubled the production from 11 liters to 22, that will be fantastic already. If we’re able to increase shelf life from seven days to 14 days, that’s fantastic already,” he added.
The Philippines also lagged in coconut production, an area where it once led yet lost its position to Indonesia.
“We were still number one in terms of hectarage; but in terms of being the number one producer, Indonesia is now number one,” said Mr. Hernandez.
The coconut trees in the country can produce 45 to 50 nuts each, according to Mr. Hernandez. But other countries already have varieties that can yield 150 nuts for every tree. As such, for its coconuts, the Philippines needs to have a “massive” replanting strategy.
“What’s so interesting to me, personally, is that there are so many sectors that have the same story,” Mr. Hernandez said.
Government plans
Seeing the problems in the agriculture sector, some plans have nonetheless been drafted by the government.
Last year, the DA came up with the National Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and Industrialization Plan for 2021 to 2030, which serves as a directional plan to transform the sector.
“Digitalization and sustainability are very much part of that [plan]. But I think we need a whole-of-nation collaboration for us to be able to do that,” DA’s Ms. Sombilla said.
We need real-time data to come up with intervention plans before the issue of food security comes about. I’m asking the assistance of development partners to put that database in place for our policy-making.
— MERCEDITA A. SOMBILLA, Undersecretary, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Ms. Sombilla also said the DA is concerned of the challenges in improving the food security in the country. Hence, the 10-year plan “puts towards that objective of having a food- and nutrition-secured Filipinos with empowered farmers and fisherfolks in terms of increasing their productivity and incomes,” she said. “So, we are trying our best to do that.”
In terms of weak biosecurity, Ms. Sombilla shared they are working on strengthening this area.
“We are now putting up the first border control, what we call the cold examination so that we can sort of prevent importation of foods that are supposed to be infected with diseases, pandemics that could have some dangers to our agricultural sector,” she shared.
Meanwhile, concerning investments in post-harvest facilities, Ms. Sombilla said that policies should be there to support the private sector for such facilities.
“This is supposed to be a private sector; all of these facilities are supposed to be. So, I think the policy aspect of that should be there to encourage the private sector. There are probably still some hindrances that don’t encourage the private sector to get into this,” she said.
Ms. Sombilla also shared that the DA is currently assessing what is lacking in cold storages and warehouses that farmers needed to support in marketing their produce.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has also instructed the DA to formulate a farm-to-market network plan, according to Ms. Sombilla.
“We need the connectivity from the farmers to the main thoroughfares that would lead to the markets and the manufacturing sector,” she said.
“What the President instructed DA to do recently is to come up with a farm-to-market network plan, wherein we geo-tag all the farm-to-market roads so that any additional farm-to-market road that would be constructed should connect to all this one,” she added.
Ms. Sombilla also touched on the need for policies to encourage the agriculture sector to fast-track the modernization.
“We need precision farming to overcome so many challenges in agriculture. We need real and fast data and information, so that we will be able to develop interventions needed before any of these challenges would affect the sector,” she said.
“And in order for us to do that, we need to increase investment in research and technology, and extension services,” she continued. “We need to capacitate our farmers to be able to make use of this technology. We may have the AI (artificial intelligence) and Internet of Things and all of these; but if our farmers are not able to make use of this, it will not be very useful.”
Initiatives from private, development sectors
Technology and modern farming practices play a part as well for players in the private sector like MPAV in addressing concerns seen in the country’s agriculture sector.
“We cannot solve the whole crisis; but we want to do our share, and we want to focus on the industry subsectors… [W]e think [that] if we apply new technologies and modern farming practices [to such areas], we can increase yield and quality,” MPAV’s Mr. Hernandez said.
Mr. Hernandez also talked about the significance of changing the way food is produced, seeing the need to grow more food in the next decades to feed the increasing population and the impact of traditional agriculture on the soil’s health.
“It goes without saying that the way to change the way we produce food will be enabled by digital. And in the agricultural world, digital starts by adopting modern farming practices and the latest farming techniques and technologies that promise to increase yield, increase quality, use less resources, and will be more mindful of the environment,” he said.
Mr. Hernandez also viewed the application of technology in agriculture as a way attract the younger generation, especially as the average age of Filipino farmer is almost 70 at present.
“Because there are new technologies that are being adapted, we think we can involve the younger generation to be part again of the ecosystem,” he said.
If we want to have big impacts on sustainability and food security, we have to look at staples.
— JOANNA KANE-POTAKA, Deputy Director General for Strategy, Engagement, and Impact, INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
In the segment of rice, which is a staple food for Filipinos, science and technology are delivering potential advancements.
“What we’ve been able to do is identify the gene that makes rice low[er its] glycemic index. We found that gene in the gene bank, we’ve done all the testing [and] we’re doing the final testing now. When that’s released, that can be applied to any variety. Any of your high-yielding, highly resilient varieties, we can naturally add in that natural rice gene to make it a low glycemic index rice even when it’s refined,” shared Joanna Kane-Potaka, deputy director general for strategy, engagement, and impact at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
This development in rice can be helpful for the Philippines, as 3.9 million Filipinos are affected by diabetes.
Ms. Kane-Potaka also shared that IRRI is looking to breed new varieties. “We’ve now got high-zinc varieties… and high-protein varieties. And what we’re looking at now is how you combine that,” she said.
“So, on the nutrition, we’re on the cusp of some really big breakthroughs,” she added.
IRRI is also addressing the impact of flooded fields, where rice is grown, on climate change.
“Rice traditionally wasn’t always grown in flooded fields. And it’s the flooding that actually causes the methane gas emissions; it’s not the rice. But when we flood the fields, the water attracts the bacteria, which has the greenhouse gas emissions,” she explained.
“The decades of breeding new varieties have all been done for flooded fields. So, what we’ve done is change a lot of the breeding programs to breeding especially for what we call dry seeded rice so you don’t have to grow it in flooded fields,” she said.
But while the dry-seeded rice approach already exists, Ms. Kane-Potaka said the rollout is challenging.
“This is where we need policy. This is where we need national systems. We only work in partnership, and it’s how you roll it out and get the adoption, which is always the challenge as well,” she said.
Ms. Kane-Potaka also shared about how one of IRRI scientists delved into AI and was able to create a new way to characterize the entire genetic material for rice.
“We’re looking for funding at the moment. Once we get that, the plan is to use the AI to characterize all of the genetic material for rice, not just some, and the way you need to then analyze that data to see what we can do from it,” she said.
“If we can use the AI and do the complete characterization, it’s going to be big what we can do,” she added.
She also noted the possibility of speed breeding with the help of AI, which can be helpful as the development of varieties in agriculture could take years.
“And so, rather than getting only one crop, [in] which you need to do your breeding to develop the new varieties, you can get two to six seasons of that crop. So, it saves years in scientific development. And every couple of years you save, it’s millions of dollars saved,” she said.
IRRI already uses speed breeding in its facilities in India, and the institute is about to establish the application of the said technique in the Philippines.
Approaches to food security
Ms. Kane-Potaka shared five approaches for the Philippines to achieve food security and sustainability.
The first of which is having a triple bottom line approach, which involves profit for the farmers; the planet, or having the solutions to address the impact of climate change; and the people, which meant having affordable and accessible healthy food.
“But that triple bottom line for food security often works in silos. The real solution will come when we have solutions that look at those three areas in unison,” Ms. Kane-Potaka said.
The second approach focuses on the staples, which can be impactful for food security and sustainability.
“Having smarter staples that exist now is what we need right now, and long-term we need to look at working on diversifying those staples,” Ms. Kane-Potaka said.
Having scientific developments, meanwhile, is the third approach. The fourth dealt with inclusiveness.
“We are only going to maximize the benefits if we maximize the inclusiveness of everybody to contribute to that,” said Ms. Kane-Potaka.
And to support the solutions, a policy is needed, which is the fifth approach.
“What’s the use of technology if you don’t have the policy to support it and vice versa? Any of the solutions need the policy as the base to support it, and it’s the critical part,” she said.