Why is PH Agriculture in terms of food behind that of Vietnam, of Thailand, and of Indonesia, and only equal that of Malaysia? Secretary of Agriculture William Dar told the House Committee on Agriculture chaired by Wilfrido Mark Enverga that the obvious explanation is that each of those countries has a lion’s share of the national budget for agriculture: Vietnam at 6.3%, Thailand at 3.6%, and Indonesia at 3.3% (Jasper Y Arcalas, “House Panel Favors Budget Hike For DA[1],” BusinessMirror.com.ph). In contrast, PH and Malaysia are down there each with a measly 1.6%. (image of negative growth[2] from Incyte Strategies LLC)
So, don’t be surprised why PH Agriculture imports more while each of those countries exports more!
During that meeting of the House Committee on Appropriations on the proposed 2021 budget of the DA, Mr Dar said that “that some of the projects that they plan to implement next year to improve farm production would not push through as (the DA’s) proposed budget of P284 billion was not approved” (italics supplied).
Mr Dar then appealed to the Committee if it were possible that P42 billion out of the P66 billion stimulus fund for agriculture instead be added to the 2020 DA budget. He said, “With this, our budget will be over P100 billion next year, which is good enough to start stimulating our agriculture sector toward a growth pattern.”
The problem with the Philippines, Mr Dar said, is that agriculture has been contributing yearly 10% of the country’s gross domestic product, GDP, and yet its budget share in the past 10 years has been a measly yearly 3%.
PH legislators and/or GDP economists do not know how to reward the good so that it will perform even better!
Mr Dar said:
We wish to underscore the need to ensure parity between the contribution of the sector to the economy and resources it gets from the national coffers. This if we are to ensure that agriculture (is) the sleeping giant (so that it) can finally contribute its full potential to the Philippine economy.
Note that Mr Dar referred to PH Agriculture as “the sleeping giant.” We can fully appreciate that if we note that, as according to George Barcelon, President Emeritus of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ernesto M Ordoñez, “Agriculture Budget And Economic Growth[3],” business.inquirer.net):
Our importation of food is almost 50 percent. So if you look at what sectors we should really focus on for long-term sustainability, it is really agriculture.
Mr Ordoñez went on to say:
Today, the Philippines has a 31% poverty rate, more than double that of Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, while Malaysia’s is less than 2%.
Local government and private sector empowerment in developing agriculture and reducing poverty must now focus on the provinces, municipalities, and barangays. The larger agriculture budget, when used with this new normal approach, will add significantly in achieving our “bayanihan as one” objective of a better life for our people.
Raise up the PH Agriculture budget!@517
[1]http://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/09/10/house-panel-favors-budget-hike-for-da/?fbclid=IwAR3t9TEBSaywOXMKHNtm3IkHIr_iozp-8QD89d4ZAmAJIK3iWspSdZfuvYc
[2]http://www.incytestrategies.com/2015/01/16/what-the-heck-does-negative-earnings-growth-mean/
[3]https://business.inquirer.net/299114/agriculture-budget-and-economic-growth
No comments:
Post a Comment