‘Let us hear from Secretary Dar if indeed food importation has replaced agricultural production as the key policy of his department, and why.’
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is the Executive branch’s agency directly mandated to promote agricultural development and growth. In simple terms, the DA is tasked with helping farmers and fisherfolk to attain bountiful harvests of grains, vegetable and other crops, and fish and other seafood to provide food for their tables and the rest of Filipino homes.
The department has adopted a lofty mission statement: to help empower the small farming and fishing communities and the private sector to produce enough, accessible and affordable food for every Filipino and a decent income for all.
While good on paper, these promises are all but forgotten by the department led by Agriculture Secretary William Dar as they embark on a long-running food importation spree to the detriment of local farmers and fishermen.
Former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol, now running for senator, has been very vocal and explicit in rejecting the DA policy of rice imports under the Rice Tariffication Law. He has mounted his whole campaign on a platform of attaining agricultural productivity, food security and economic growth.
Another candidate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan who is running for vice president, recently shot down the DA’s move to import sugar at this time of sugar milling season in the nation’s sugar-producing regions.
The latest to be heard on the subject is House of Representatives deputy minority leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate who said he wanted the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice-National Bureau of Investigation to look into the DA’s pro-importation policy which he described as “economic sabotage.”
Zarate shot down this current trend of unbridled importation, which is done by the DA despite local producers’ assurances that there is enough supply.
He cited the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s recent Sugar Order No. 3, which allowed the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar. He noted that the DA has had similar directives on the importation of pork and galunggong (round scad) presumably to stabilize their prices and supply.
The congressman criticized the DA for using the destruction caused by typhoon “Odette” last December as a justification for the importation of sugar and fish. He said the sugarcane planters of Negros Occidental themselves gave the assurance that they can produce the needed volume of sugar because their farms were not totally devastated by the typhoon.
Let us hear from Secretary Dar if indeed food importation has replaced agricultural production as the key policy of his department, and why.
