Agriculture chief to approve 10-year food plan for Marcos Jr

MANILA — Agriculture Secretary William Dar said Wednesday he would work with the next administration’s transition team to ensure implementation of the agency’s proposed 10-year plan as well as food sufficiency programs .

During a webinar hosted by the Association of Business Journalists of the Philippines (EJAP), Dar said he would present the National Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization and Industrialization Plan (NAFMIP) to the next administration. of 2.5 trillion pesos to help improve agricultural productivity.

The NAFMIP plan assumes a budget of 250 billion pesos per year for 10 years, for a total of 2.5 trillion pesos.

Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos is set to become the next president after dominating the partial unofficial results of the May 9 election.

“We have details of the 250 billion peso budget for next year, anchored on NAFMIP, the ten-year strategic plan of the Ministry of Agriculture. We are preparing, meron na kaming transition document na anytime now, siguro, wag ngayong week na ito, but in the next 2 weeks we will request a hearing at President-elect Bong-bong Marcos’ transition camp,” Dar said. .

Marcos has been tight-lipped about his plans for the Philippines, but he has an election promise to cut the price of rice to 20 pesos a kilo.

Dar said Marcos may be referring to palay farm gate prices, which are currently 19 pesos per kilo.

“I guess what was mentioned as P20 per kilo is maybe for Palay. Yung farmgate price kasi ngayon currently is P19. So I support this idea to make it P20 for mas mataas pa ang kita para sa ing mga magsasaka,” Dar said.

This means that the price would be higher once it is processed into rice and sold in the retail market.

But the next administration must focus beyond the palate and focus on increasing productivity levels of various products by using technology to ensure food sufficiency.

“This should always be a primary goal. Para mas mataas po yung suma total productivity will become higher levels of local food production. Para mas mataas ang sufficiency level. That said, we also need to look at the affordability of the food that we produce, the competitiveness of that as well,” he said.

Supply-side challenges contributed to inflation since food was the largest contribution to a household’s spending basket.

Inflation soared when African swine fever reduced the local supply of pork.

Economic officials said agriculture needs to be improved to ensure food security and price stability in the country.

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