DA to unveil new strategies next week to boost local farmers’ productivity

Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. speaks at the agency’s weekly flag ceremony on January 2, 2023. (Photo from DA on Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) will unveil strategies to modernize agriculture and boost local farmers’ productivity starting next week on Wednesday.

According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., the DA will soon reveal programs to increase food production in the face of the looming impacts of the El Niño climate phenomenon.

“Very soon, we will have that program – possibly in the next 10 days – that we will cascade to everyone,” Laurel said while speaking at the agency’s weekly flag ceremony.

The DA Chief also told the agency’s personnel to act fast given the threat of drought, which the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said could affect provinces in the country as soon as May this year.

Among the measures that Laurel said could help the country’s agricultural sector are timely farm and market statistics, adoption of new technologies, and farm mechanization.

Continuing his speech, the DA Chief stressed that “all eyes” are on the DA as the public hopes for the reduced prices of agricultural goods.

“The entire country expects that we could feed them and that we will try to bring commodity prices down,” Laurel emphasized.

In response to the threat of a prolonged dry spell, some 500,000 metric tons of imported rice are expected to arrive in the country early this year.

READ: Over 500,000 MT of imported rice arriving — DA

However, a farmers’ group said that the public should still expect a surge in rice prices due to drought and the high cost of rice abroad.

READ: Farmers’ group sees Filipinos still grappling with high rice price in 2024

In December last year, the DOST warned of a prolonged dry spell due to the effects of a stronger El Niño phenomenon, which would affect some 65 provinces in the country.