SPECIFIC agricultural interventions for provinces, coupled with road maps crafted for each of the major agricultural commodities of the country, can meet the demands of the Asean Economic Community, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
“The Philippines cannot compete in all commodities so the agriculture sector should focus on what the country is good at,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said recently during the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management (CHARM) Project in Baguio City.
He said the country has lots of opportunities like the CHARM Project, which can help farmers better prepare for the Asean integration next year, Alcala said, adding “the primary aim of these road maps is to improve farmers’ yields to meet food-security targets and increase farmers’ income.”
Aside from CHARM, Alcala said the Philippine Rural Development Program “is [another] comprehensive program that would fully prepare the country to become competitive along with other Asean markets,” saying it will be all based on value-chain analysis.
He proposed the identification of “champion crops” for mountainous areas like the Cordilleras. He said the DA is currently conducting a study on the marketability of chayote as extender in the Middle East, and finalizing production plans for chopsuey in tetra packs which can be used as healthier option for relief operations during disasters.
“We should take advantage of projects that we have to empower ourselves—we have to encourage farmers to be ready to accept change. And regarding Asean, we should see the integration as stimulus for us to improve our production also for our domestic supply and to have quality products for our own consumption,” Alcala said.
Early this year, the agency conducted a cassava consultation meeting and workshop for the Cordillera region, to promote the commercialization of cassava, particularly in its production and marketing as additional source of income among farmers.
At the consultation, farmers and industry stakeholders were informed of the current programs and projects of the department specifically on cassava, its different uses, and its appropriate modern equipment and machinery for cassava growing, including processing of funds being released to implement programs and projects for the enhancement of the region’s cassava industry.
In national agricultural performance for the first nine months of this year, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported that cassava continued its production uptrend with an 8.92-percent growth for the reporting period.
“The prevailing high market demand from industrial users boosted technical and financial assistance to growers from San Miguel Corp. in Zamboanga City,” the BAS said, adding that harvested areas in Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reportedly increased due to continuous high demand.