THE PHILIPPINES has a long way to go before it can become self-sufficient in rice and other major commodities.

While other Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea have turned rice as their major non-traditional foreign exchange earner, the country is still way below its production target and is still importing the main staple grain from these countries. Lack of government support is one factor why the country is experiencing this dilemma which results in the wanton drainage of its dollar reserves.

This annoying situation was reported by former Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani A. Braganza who served as keynote speaker during the 18th Regional Symposium on Research and Development (R&D) Highlights of the Ilocos Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILARRDEC) held at the Mariano Marcos State University, Aug. 10-11.

ILARRDEC is a consortium of 17 agencies in Region I involved in agricultural research and extension. Its headquarters is located at the main campus of MMSU.

An annual activity of the consortium since 1979, the symposium was attended by about 400 farmers, researchers, scientists, students, representatives of local government units (LGUs), and policy makers from Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan.

Braganza, who is currently the mayor of Alaminos City, Pangasinan, said that the country’s vast R&D experiences saw a benchmark success because many countries have sent their students “to learn from us.” “Now, these countries are better than us because their governments fully support them in their effort to increase food production and attain self-sufficiency in rice and other major food crops,” he lamented.

“Since R&D is a continuing learning process, I hope that we can break away from this [annoying] situation and remove the stigma of the Philippines as the basket case of Asia,” he said.

Braganza believes that if the government fully supports the efforts in regional R&D, this will contribute immensely in attaining food security that will make the country less dependent on imported products; in modernizing industries to catch up with the developed countries, and in producing quality products that can compete globally.

This year alone, the ILARRDEC member-agencies have generated 49 mature technologies in agriculture, forestry, and natural resources and are ready for commercialization. These have been piloted, tested, and verified to suit the agro-climatic conditions of the semi-arid areas of the country such as those in Region I.

“If these new technologies shall be applied in the farms,” Braganza said, “these will refocus our status from a net importer of raw materials to a net exporter that shall provide more income to farmers, expand our industries, and create more business and job opportunities.”

“This will translate into more stable and sustainable economy, because food security is our national security,” Braganza pointed out.

“Agri-volution” Program

To partially attain these “dreams,” Braganza challenged the LGU representatives and agency heads to follow the agricultural program which he embarked in Alaminos City that is raking substantial profit for farmers and fisherfolk, and bringing massive agricultural reforms in Pangasinan.

The program, Bayanihan Integrated Program toward Sustainable Agriculture (BIPSA), is now gaining impetus among the rural stakeholders. Popularly known as “Agri-volution,” the program was granted a P1-M package for training activities during the 2nd Philippines Development Innovation Marketplace for Panibagong Paraan (Innovations) by the World Bank.

“Agri-volution”, which is a combination of “agriculture” and “evolution,” is now leading Alaminos City to its transformation in terms of griculture and fisheries systems and is giving the people the technologies aimed at alleviating their economic conditions. This two-year-old program has started to create an impact on the lives of the poor and is already sending contributions to the local economy.  This program focuses on three main projects to develop crops, livestock, and fishery. It has considered the people living in the coastal areas, the plains, and the hills which have different cultural practices.

In the plain areas, for instance, hybrid rice and corn are produced, while in the slopes, high-value crops are cultivated. The pasture areas belong to the livestock industry, while the coastal villages focus on aquaculture.

This farming system aims to encourage cooperation among the people in the spirit of “bayanihan”. This hale and hearty reciprocity is a clustering strategy and is an integrated approach to mainstream the agricultural and fishery sectors into the local economy by transforming some 8,000 hectares of farms and 11,000 hectares of marine waters and rivers into productive enterprises.

This program mobilizes the more than 10,000 families directly dependent on agriculture and fisheries as beneficiaries and prime movers so that the city shall have an ecologically balanced agro-industrial program.

“Because of these projects, the families with a monthly income of P1,000 were able to earn at least P5,000 monthly, mainly through capital, technical, and marketing assistance,” Braganza said, adding that other farmers are also earning some P100,000-P150,000 a year from their “pinakbet” farms of about 1,000 square meters.

To date, the “agri-volution” has improved agriculture and fishery systems through the “Ocho-Ocho” project. In this project, rice farms occupying an eight-hectare area are clustered and the farmers help each other during the entire cropping season. This way, cost of production is minimized as the farmers who are mostly tenants, do not have to hire and spend for labor. Through this system, the farmers could also share technological knowledge. According to Braganza, there are already 114 clusters for rice production totaling to 1,063 hectares in 30 villages. These involve 775 farmers who either own the lands or are tenants. The hybrid rice yield has increased from an average of 4.6 tons per hectare to 10.2 tons, while the harvest of traditional inbred variety has increased from 6 tons per hectare to 6.