Local farms need suitable equipment, technologies—Neda

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE use of large agriculture equipment may not be ideal for the Philippines given the smaller landholdings of local planters, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In a Senate hearing on the proposed national budget for 2024, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said large tractors could not be used in smaller farms, such as those in his hometown in Ilocos.

Balisacan also said government must invest in technologies that are appropriate for local conditions. These technologies do not just refer to machines but also to seeds and fertilizers.

“We have a penchant for im- porting machines, tractors that would be appropriate for haciendas but would not be appropriate for most farms in my region where the sizes of paddies are so small. We just have to develop technologies that are appropriate [to local conditions].”

In terms of seeds, for example, Balisacan said there is no sufficient investment being made on the development of local varieties that would fit local conditions, thus the need to import varieties that would be better suited for certain areas.

He said this can also be seen in terms of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) efforts to provide just one type of fertilizer recommendation to all farms nationwide which “doesn’t work because the conditions are so different” in various regions and localities in the country.

To improve the productivity of farms, Balisacan said the construction of a soil laboratory was included in the budget of the DA for next year.

Previously, he said samples from areas suffering soil nutrition deficiency are brought to Manila for testing.

“The system was then not so responsive to the actual situation that farmers face across the land. And so our appeal is we provide more resources to our agencies to use technologies, appropriate technologies for various areas in the country,” Balisacan said.

Unfortunately, he said, these technologies are “not manna from heaven” and will cost the government as well as local institutions.

One way to address this is for local universities and colleges to focus their research and other initiatives on their own locales. He said they should strive to create solutions that can be used in their regions or provinces.

In the second quarter of the year, the Agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) grew by a measly 0.2 percent. AFF accounted for 8 percent of the country’s total GDP and only 0.01 percentage point of the 4.3 percent GDP growth in April to June.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the fisheries subsector pulled down AFF during the period, as it declined by 13.7 percent. Other sub-industries which recorded declines during the period were: sugarcane including muscovado sugar-making in the farm, 6 percent; rubber, 8.5 percent; corn, 0.8 percent; forestry and logging, 16.8 percent; and abaca, 1 percent.