There is no way we can achieve the desired annual 3 to 4 % growth in agriculture without attaining greater economies of scale in a number of commercial crops that can follow the examples of bananas and pineapples, in which the Philippines is  a major exporter. As we have seen in the first two articles of this series, the coconut industry can lead in the reconsolidation of the 3.5 million hectares of coconut farms that were subjected to agrarian reform under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) law that expired in 2014. Hopefully, this same reconsolidation can also happen in the sugar industry that should never have been included in CARP if we had learned from Taiwan, that instituted one of the most thorough going land reform programs under President Chiang Kai Sek but wisely exempted sugar from land fragmentation.  This explains why Taiwan reached very high levels of sugar productivity.

            As President BBM emphasized, however, in his third SONA, high GDP growth is rendered meaningless if 16% of the population (19 million people) continue be below the poverty line.  That is why there must be even greater emphasis given by the Government to the challenges faced by the small farmers in rising above poverty levels.  Some 70% of the poor in the country are in the rural areas, most of them engaged in coconut farming, subsistent rice and corn farming, backyard livestock , vegetable gardening, small-scale fishing. It is the primary responsibility of the State to provide these small farmers and fisherfolks what they need in terms of farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, agricultural extension services, and access to credit so that they and their respective families can attain a minimum of human decency and comfort.  Bringing down to single digit level of 9 % or below the national poverty incidence by 2028 would depend to a great extent on how the Government can effectively carry out this responsibility.   Economic growth from the more developed sectors of the economy will not automatically trickle down to the rural poor. Direct intervention from the State in the forms of infrastructure support, subsidies, fintech services, fertilizer programs and other direct development aid programs—with the help of  ODA and NGOs—is absolutely necessary to eradicate poverty. Among the resources that should be efficiently used by the State to help the rice farmers, for example, are the proceeds from the rice tariffication program.  Especially now that the Secretary of Agriculture comes from the fisheries sector, there should be greater efforts to address the plight of our subsistence fisherfolks.

            In this most important goal of eradicating poverty through assisting the small farmers to improve their incomes, special attention should be given to the role of LGU officials.  Most efforts in the past have ignored the principle of subsidiarity in governance with national agencies trying to do most of the work of assisting small farmers overcome poverty. Here let me cite a report from the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies about how an enlightened and proactive Mayor in a town in Ilocos Norte, Piddig, helped his rural community attain significant increases in rice farming as well as other food products with the appropriate intervention from the LGU. Entitled a “Model for the ‘new normal’ in Agriculture” by Jane Lynn Capacio et al, the article described how former Piddig Mayor Eduardo Guillen (who is now the Director of the National Irrigation Authority under the BBM Government) saw how agricultural projects at the local community level can be scaled up through the resources of national government agencies.  Before that can be achieved, however, the municipality must do its home work by preparing the appropriate plan and most importantly consult its constituents.  I am personally knowledgeable about this success story in helping small farmers because former Piddig Mayor Guillen was one of the participants of an executive education program at the University of Asia and the Pacific where I am a Professor Emeritus.  Former Mayor Guillen took the Strategic Business Economics Program (SBEP) in which I lectured and where he was mentored by the late Dr. Rolando Dy, arguably the best agribusiness economist the Philippines ever had.  The SBEP was the same program taken by President BBM and Secretary of Finance Ralph Recto, among other top government officials and corporate top executives and entrepreneurs.

            Under Mayor Guillen, the Piddig LGU organized smallholders into the Piddig Basic Multipurpose Cooperative (PBMC) to manage the rice processing center and the coffee processing facilities.  The LGU was aware that when farmers with small holdings are unorganized, their costs of production and marketing tend to be high.  The LGU also knew that without equipment like processing centers, as well as machineries such as tractors and mechanical harvesters, farm activities would be cost ineffective.  Piddig also suffered from the fate of Philippine agriculture in general:  the average of farmer’s age is getting close to 60 years.  The “new normal” of Mayor Guillen consisted in the simple initiative called the National Convergence Initiative Project, which secured from national agencies in an organized and coordinated manner the following resources:  public goods, such as infrastructures (e.g. farm-to-market roads, flood control dams); farm equipment (e.g. tractors); rice and coffee processing facilities; agricultural technology and agricultural extension services (including soil suitability tests  to determine quality of soil); farm inputs (e.g. organic fertilizers); agricultural credit;  crop insurance; marketing facilities; and land tenure services (e.g. land titling).  To assist the PBMC, the LGU hired retired professionals to coach and assist the farmer leaders.  This involved setting up systems to make processes effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable.  It also included back-office support, like setting up the accounting systems.

            A great part of the success of the “new normal” of Piddig was the decision of Mayor Guillen to involve an age-old institution of the Ilocos region called the “zanjeras.”  Zanjeras comes from the Spanish word “zanja” which means “ditch.”  They can be found in Ilocos Norte and some of them date back to the Spanish colonial period in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  They were initially built to address poorly irrigated lands.  Up to the present, these centuries-old social institutions and technology are still able to engineer and manage systems that draw water from the Laoag River Basin.  Zanjeras are private institutions which have their own rules with regard to the management  and maintenance of the irrigation facility.  Mayor Guillen made sure that the LGU did not encroach on the water rights and other internal mechanisms of the zanjeras.  In a manner of speaking, the arrangement is similar to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) that has been adopted by the National Government in the construction and operations of infrastructure projects at the national level.

            The UP study ends with a caveat.  The Piddig model shows a bundle of interventions aimed at long-term improvements.  It is not geared towards short-term gains by “picking the low-hanging fruits.”  Mayor Guillen and his team were very much aware that the problems of agriculture are systemic.  Cherry picking or tweaking here and there without looking at whole systems might not lead to the desired results.  In fact, it might even result in perverse consequences.  It would be wise for many LGU officials interested in improving the lot of small holders, especially in rice, corn, livestock and vegetables, to study the Piddig model.. I am sure that NIA Director, Eddie Guillen, will be more than happy  in helping LGU officials replicate the Piddig  model, especially now that he himself is a heading a very important national agency that is directly related to the productivity of small rice  and other farms in which the availability of irrigation facilities is crucial for economic survival.  For comments, my email address is bernardo.villegas@uap.asia.