A concept of livelihood

IT’S TIME TO ARTICULATE A CLEAR POLICY ON AGRICULTURE – This is a recurring problem of the agriculture sector and the present dispensation supposedly was the turning point of agricultural reforms. The government must be cognizant of agriculture as a key sector. Some years back, the sector that has been leading the economy is agriculture. Since three out of four poor families belong to the rural sector, agricultural reform is the key to defeating poverty.
While earning praises from government economic planners and financial managers, Mindanao’s agricultural sector including Davao City is running into trouble. Immediate right after a new leader assumes the lever of power, analysts firmly believe the incoming dispensation stood a good chance of engineering a project that embodies a concept of livelihood – its goal is stimulate the small farmers to strive for the improvement of their living conditions with minimal help from the government.
But to fully realize the vast potential of agriculture and small and medium enterprise (SME) in Mindanao – considered the country’s super region food basket, it should be financially accessible to government loans. Unfortunately, the bad news keeps coming. Part of the problem is the cyclical concerns such as the lack of access to financing, and small farmers and fisher folks have been resigned to the fact that stringent rules and voluminous requirements of government-controlled banks limit them from accessing loans. They decried that bureaucratic red tape and strict government procedures to obtain a loan are too difficult to comply.
The coconut industry, the most direct beneficiary of government agricultural loans, as a matter of fact, cannot attain its full potential also due to unavailable funds intended to coconut farmers. The Department of Agriculture (DA) did try in some occasion to clarify the matter stating the government has available funds for the purpose and even a ranking official assures that the department has millions worth of guaranteed fund at the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and accessible to farmers who wish to borrow. Aside from that, another P2 million Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund was released the other year. Yet, even with such assurance from the DA to have easy access in acquiring loans from government banks and other financial institutions still may not guarantee its realization.
Owing largely to a relatively lack of access to government loans, Mindanao’s agriculture sector’s position remains hanging on the balance. In the past private banks and lending institutions were allowed to undertake government lending. But it’s no longer certified this time and non-government credit facilities have likewise been prohibited from handling them. Different groups from the agriculture segment therefore suggest that funds for agriculture and SME instead be release the way the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) is being done.
Furthermore, the DA says it has no capability to handle financing, thus encouraged the private sector to elevate their concerns to LBP where government funds are lodged. On the other hand, government suggested that the funds had to be distributed using the Conditional Transfer Method but with a replacement system. The question, however, is this: “How long will it take to fully realize the potential of the agriculture sector and SME in Mindanao when availing of government loans is like passing through the hole of a needle?”
The toughest problem is the very nature of government procedures related in extending loans to small farmer beneficiaries and fisher folks, hence there still remains a degree of doubt considering that bureaucratic red tape is very much alive in government departments and line agencies. Make no mistake at all. If anyone cannot fast track the full realization of the potentials of farmers and SME in Mindanao, it is government’s quick action that is needed. Top government officials and concerned agencies notably the DA should implement a package of banking procedures and tight-money measures to stabilize Mindanao’s agricultural development and of the entire country as well.
If fully implemented, this package would provide a strong basis for the agriculture sector to recover from its current difficulties and expect more rapid rates of growth. For all its effort, unless lost-cause development programs are allowed to fail the country’s agriculture sector, may be merely postponing a reckoning that will be made all the more painful by short-sighted and self-interested solutions.