Thank you Bohol (Part 2)
by Governor Art Yap
Last week, we discussed Bohol at the height of the Covid Pandemic and the great challenge to help people with their livelihoods when tourism shut down. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were affected when flights and shipping were cancelled. Almost overnight, Bohol and major commercial streets were rendered as ghost towns: the malls shut down, resorts became vacant, restaurants closed and transportation ground to a halt. The great need was to help people with their day to day expenses. Affordable food and basic expenditures were the immediate need of our people.
For this reason, to the extent that people can continue working without any health risks, they were not only allowed to, they were actually encouraged to do so. Agriculture programs especially planting vegetables, rice and corn and raising livestock and poulty were actually encouraged and supported. All adults, even senior citizens and even the youth from ages 15 onwards, were allowed to break their quarantine as long as they were engaged in agriculture and food production.
Construction was another activity that was encouraged as long anti Covid protocols for health and hygiene were properly followed. Hardware stores were allowed to continue to stay open, including agriculture stores and supplies.
Cash for work transfers were also very much needed for which reason, the Barangay Livestock Aides, Barangay Health Care Workers, Day Care Workers and Barangay Nutrition Scholars were all, for the first time, given financial honoraria, not only to encourage them in their work, but also in recognition of the need to keep the flow of expenditures moving in the base of the economy. Even farmers were given a “Kita Sa Kakugi” Program which was a cash for work Program which made it possible for farmers to repair and maintain basic water channels in farm production areas.
The focus on agriculture was an important one, with or without Covid. In an island province of hundreds of thousands of farmers and fisherfolk, it was a shame that the Gross Value Added for agriculture products is a mere 5% while 78% is for services and tourism, in Bohol. This is the reason that while tourism has pushed up the local economies of a few critical towns like Tagbilaran, Panglao and Dauis, the bulk of Bohol remains poor and struggling despite good roads, an international airport and beautiful natural endowments. Unless, agriculture production increases and value adding follows, agriculture will always be low income punctuated with losses. Farmers will not be capacitated to produce more with limited demand and low value and the result will be hundreds of thousands who will not graduate out of the “ayuda” mentality.
A major factor that can trigger more high value crops is the availability of water. High value crops like green leafy vegetables, salad vegetable varieties and fruits are a perfect fit for Bohol’s tourism economy, but sadly, will never be a reality unless we address the issue of water in our Province. More than 60 percent of our barangays have water problems for which reason, to highlight this need, the provincial government under my watch, gave an across the board PHP 100,000 pesos financial assistance to all of Bohol’s 1,109 barangays to invest in local water projects. In addition, barangay aid from 2019-2021 was increased to PHP 25,000 pesos and on the last week of May, this year, 2022, I submitted a revised Provincial Investment Plan to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, which was approved last week, doubling the Barangay Aid to PHP 50,000 pesos as long as it was specifically for water security projects. So today, baranggay assistance from the Provincial Government has been hiked to PHP 50,000.
I always took time to explain to our people that the availability of water in Bohol is closely interlinked to poverty incidence. It is the availability of water that keeps our communities healthy so people can work. Water also makes farming for food security, modernization of agri facilities, tourism and additional jobs, all possible as well.
The financial sector understands this well for which reason Landbank gave the Provincial Government a credit line of PHP 2 billion pesos so we could use this to help develop municipal water resources, build more reservoirs to impound water and build basic distribution piping for local communities. To date, this amount is available as a credit line, contrary to the fake news unleashed during the campaign period that the amount was already loaned by the Provincial Government. The Credit Line remains whole and intact and was never withdrawn as a loan and can be used for local water projects in the near and foreseable future.
As we invested in water, we also invested in farm productivity. We invested in two programs to increase rice production in Bohol. Through the Advance Rice Technology (ART) 160 Program for Hybrid Rice, we targetted 160 cavans of paddy rice per hectare. We started with 3,000 hectares in 2019 and today have increased this to 5,000 hectares when we saw average yileds rise from 120 cavans per hectare to 216 cavans per hectare. For the Advance Rice Technology (ART) 120 Program for Inbred Certified Seeds for Rice, we saw yields go up to an average of 136 cavans per hectare from 60 cavans per hectare. In both programs, assigning a rice technician to supervise farming, using the right technology, clustering the production area, and using the proper seeds and inputs, were instrumental for the success of the Program. Today, the two programs have been increased to a total of 10,000 hectares.
But equally important was not only the increase in the yield per hectare for palay which we gave attention to, we also registered a brand name for our farmers called “Bugas ni Dagohoy,” complete with packaging, milling and a buy back price for palay at PHP 20.00 per kilo to protect the farmgate price for farmers.
During the campaign period, I was accused of abandoning our farmers when it came to supporting the farmgate price of palay. But that was not at all true. The opposite was true: the Provincial Government came up with a program to buy back palay from the Hybrid Rice Program at PHP 20.00 to help farmers defray their planting costs. After buying the palay, the Provincial Government packaged, milled and sold the rice to the open market. On its first trial year, more than 300,000 kilos of palay were procured which were totally sold out in the market. Through this Provincial Government Program, farmers saw that it was possible to mill and profit from their own production of palay into commercially milled rice.
This year, we are now leaving the program for the private sector to do. Based on this model, two Farmers Multi Purpose Cooperatives: the Bayanihan MPC based in Talibon and the Bohol Community MPC, were granted a total of PHP 500 million pesos as buying fund so they can buy from farmers at a premium of from PHP 20-PHP 21 pesos per kilo of palay for milling into commercial rice. I truly hope the private sector MPCs will focus on this model because it will not only be beneficial for them but also for the Bohol’s rice farmers.
This template for rice can also be replicated for corn. We have started to do so with a trial area for 20,000 hectares and will go a long way in helping maintain a basic livestock and poultry industry possible in Bohol. This has been one of the biggest problems for Marcelas Farms which can produce more livestock and poultry products except for the shortage in feed supplies in Bohol. To support its feeds needs, Marcelas Farms has to buy corn from Mindanao and feeds from other parts of the country.
As tourism slowly re-opens today, there seems to be a danger that attention from agriculture will again slowly be diverted to tourism and other allied programs. I strongly advise against this exclusionary principle for agriculture and tourism. The truth of the matter is, tourism is a great draw for increased agriculture production and better high value products. Increased tourism also motivates us to create spaces for retail and commerce such as public markets the way they do in many countries all over the world.
Public markets are places where farmers showcase their products, handicrafts, wares, local cooking techniques, culinary styles, and even an area where local culture can be showcased. We build a case for this when we opened Carlos P. Garcia Park to farmers in 2020. During that year of the Pandemic, farmers selling directly from the rural areas were able to cut down on trading layers and were selling about 3-4 million pesos per month in food products and produce. Buoyed by this success, we opened the old Tagbilaran Airport and made it a direct concession place for farmers to sell to the Tagbilaran residents. In two months time, the farmers grossed more than 12 million pesos.
The lesson is, while we want farmers to increase their level of production, unless we can help farmers sell directly to the market, traders and wholesalers will be the one earning from their hardwork and sacrifices. Farmers and fisherfolk must be given a chance to directly sell to the market to benefit from their hard labor.
Tourism is indeed very critical, and must be used to drive increased demand for agricultural production, but at these very critical times, agriculture support and development remains specially critical at this time of high global food prices.
Prices of food are expensive because the Philippines is a net food importer. We import rice, corn and feeds. Today all of these commodities are expensive because of the high fuel and fertilizer prices because of the Russia-Ukraine War. Logistics costs are expensive all over the world and there is so much instability in the delivery of food stocks. Many people understand this but again, I was also not excused from being blamed by the political opposition for causing fuel and fertilizer prices to increase in Bohol!
The point is, all over the world, economies are slowing down and food prices are going up. all of us must be concerned with food security so in any emergency, we are prepared to ensure the stability of our local communities. This will not happen unless we give due attention to water, agri technology, and the most important of all, market support for our farmers.
End of Part 2. Next week: Tourism, Medical Imperatives, the Youth, Typhoon Odette and the Way Forward.