AGRICULTURE CHIEF | Marcos Jr. will assume as agriculture chief as country faces food crisis

June 20, 2022 , 08:40 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(June 20, 2022) – President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday announced he will take up the agriculture portfolio “at least for now,” stressing a need to reorganize the agency and rebuild the sector’s value chain amid a looming food crisis.

Marcos Jr said he is planning to focus on increasing domestic agricultural production to ease reliance on importation, while also pushing for the restructuring of the department in the long term to “return” the agency to be “more responsive” to the global situation.

“I think that the problem is severe enough that I have decided to take on the portfolio of Secretary of Agriculture at least for now, at least until we can reorganize the Department of Agriculture in a way that will make it ready for the next years to come,” Marcos Jr. said.

MARCOS JR. AS AGRICULTURE SECRETARY

Nagdesisyon si president-elect Bongbong Marcos na pamunuan ang Department of Agriculture “at least for now.”

“We’re going back to basics, and we will rebuild the value chain of agriculture,” ayon kay Marcos Jr. pic.twitter.com/2hIuum7Pfp

— News5 (@News5PH) June 20, 2022

Last month, farmers groups called for higher budget allocation for agriculture in the incoming administration, warning that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict would possibly result in a food shortage in the coming months.

The supply chain issues as well as the soaring fuel prices caused by the conflict has caused prices of food and other basic goods to soar. The inflation rate sped up to 5% in May, based on a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Marcos vowed to increase agricultural production to counteract the growing prices, although he has not yet elaborated on his plans to achieve this.

“We’re going back to basics, and we will rebuild the value chain of agriculture,” he said.

The move drew mixed reactions to agriculture groups. Industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said they have been hoping for Marcos to assume the post to address the “scale of destruction of the local agriculture sector” blamed on the current leadership.

Left-wing farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) rejected Marcos Jr.’s move, warning that he lacked the track record on agriculture to handle the looming food crisis.

“What can we expect from Marcos Jr. as both Agriculture Secretary and President? Worsening peasant poverty and nationwide hunger, and definitely more “golden age” posturings – na hindi naman makakain,” KMP said in a statement.

Elias Inciong of the United Broilers Raisers Association (UBRA) hoped that “things will move fast” under Marcos Jr.’s leadership. They urged him to make local development of agri-fisheries a national security concern amid the worsening climate crisis.

“The NSF (national security finding) must categorically reject the current mindset of SecDA (William) Dar through UsecDA Fermin Adriano which states: ‘Look at Singapore, it imports 90% of its food but it is food secure.’ Obviously, it is for the benefit of importer/trader vested interests,” Inciong said in a statement.

(MM)

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