MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has assured the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (AmCham) that the current administration is serious in securing US investments in rural infrastructure to boost the chances of the country’s becoming self-sufficient in rice and other food items.

Alcala made the pitch last week in a meeting in Makati as he spoke before the biggest organization of US businessmen inthe Philippines.

In his address, Alcala said the Department of Agriculture (DA) wants tighter partnerships with US businessmen, particularly in food and agribusiness.

“The recent years have proven to be most challenging for the Filipino agricultural sector. Driven by a burgeoning population, demand for food has grown tremendously, even growing faster than food production itself. In contrast, farmers have less and less land to cultivate due to the encroachment of urban and industrial developments. These disadvantageous conditions have prompted us to source huge amounts of rice abroad, making the Philippines the world’s largest importer of the grain,” he added.

“Hunger is a function of poverty, and poverty is a function of income. With an annual per capita of P15,000 (roughly $333, at $1=P45), ordinary Filipinos are forced to spend two-thirds their incomes mostly on food. So, any increase in food prices translates to a drop in real incomes, illustrating why crushing poverty persists particularly in the countryside and in our urban slums,” Alcala noted.

He vowed to address “structural defects in our programs and policies, counted in terms of wrongly placed priorities and aspirations. At the same time, short-term strategies must deal with immediate issues such as prevailing poverty- and hunger-related concerns.”

Alcala stressed the provisions of Republic Act 8435 or the Agriculture and Fishery Modernization Act (AFMA) will be fully implemented under this watch.

AFMA sets the framework through which the Philippines can achieve sustainable food security and modernized agriculture.

The DA chief said Agrikulturang Pinoy or Agri-Pinoy covers the campaign to achieve broad-based agricultural growth and rural development, Alcala stressed, and hopefully help emancipate small holders from the bondage of poverty and hunger.

To do this, he vowed to “eliminate overdependence on rice imports within the next three years. Many critics say this should not and cannot be done. We say it should be done primarily because the international rice market is getting thinner, more unstable, volatile and unreliable – as demonstrated to us by the 2008 global food price crisis.”

Alcala committed to “generate new, and rehabilitate or restore existing, irrigation areas to increase productivity. Second, we have to provide more post harvest and bulk handling service facilities to reduce losses.  Last is the need to establish production hubs for high yielding varieties of rice seeds and other farm inputs such as organic fertilizer. Next in our agenda is the need to become food secure in other agricultural commodities. We have to make food and feed requirements available, accessible and affordable at all times.”

He invited US businessmen to support the Aquino administration and participate in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program that he enunciated in his first State-of-the- Nation Address (SoNA).

Aquino banks on the PPP to hasten rural infrastructure build-up that will help ensure food security and sufficiency at regional levels.

“As we all are painfully aware, our government’s financial and management resources are severely limited. We therefore would welcome as many partners and supporters to chip in and share their bit to these programs and projects. Through PPP projects, the President hopes to build more production, post-production and marketing facilities – including grains terminals, refrigeration facilities, orderly road networks and trading posts – in key food production across the country. The availability of such facilities will make the compression of the supply chain all the more possible – which translates to reduced costs, higher rural incomes, and better return on investments for agribusiness,” Alcala told the US businessmen.

He revealed that US businessmen can invest in corn, a major feed ingredient for livestock and main staple for 14 million Filipinos in the Visayas and Mindanao, farm mechanization services and the construction of more post-harvest and bulk handling service facilities, including trans-shipment centers.

“We will have to establish meat centers such as slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. We also need to put up more livestock auction and trading centers. At the same time, we will prioritize disease control, genetic improvement, increased growth in the carabao sector, and expansion of dairy initiatives,” Alcala said.

“For fruits, vegetables and other industrial crops, the provision of production, post-harvest, food supply, cold chain service facilities as well as trading centers with market service facilities.  There is also a need to establish production centers for quality seeds and planting materials. For fisheries, investments in fish farming infrastructure such as mariculture parks, seaweed nurseries and hatchery facilities are needed. Further, the establishment of fish port and cold chain service facilities and processing plants is important to preserve and process our food,” he added.