PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed an executive order (EO) approving and adopting the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for the period 2023-2028 – an economic recovery roadmap that aims to help the country achieve “economic and social transformation” amid the impact of rising inflation and COVID-19.
The PDP seeks to “bring back the country to a high-growth trajectory and more importantly, enable economic and social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive and resilient society.”
It is hoped that the PDP would address head-on our problem in agriculture; the Philippines is, after all, an agricultural country. Not a few are deeply concerned by the practically flat growth in the agriculture sector output which was at 0.5% for the whole year (2022) and negative 0.3% in the fourth quarter.
This sector is lagging behind and impairs our country’s food security. It is clear that the current levels of agriculture subsidies are not enough. We must save our farmers and fisherfolk from poverty and unemployment.
A significant increases in direct cash and in-kind subsidies to farmers, fisherfolk, and livestock raisers as part of a multi-year economic stimulus package from 2024 to 2028 won’t hurt. The agriculture sector clearly needs these subsidies to boost its economic output and reduce unemployment and underemployment.
This sector must be modernized, too. We must have much more vertical farming, indoor farms, fish and seafood hatcheries, more fish farms, and more organic farming because these are the agri sectors that have heavy agritech inputs. We must have ways to channel runoff water and floodwaters into aqueducts and irrigation.
We are elated that our country’s gross domestic product last year grew by 7.2% in the fourth quarter and by 7.6% for the whole year. This means the annual growth target range of 7.0% to 9.0% was achieved at 7.6%. However, this growth could have been higher; there are still some businesses recovering and some sectors were still hesitant to return to full in-person operations. This growth could have been higher if not for the high inflation we have had especially in 2022. NEDA director general Arsenio Balisacan himself said GDP could have been 1% to 2% higher but inflation was the dampener.
If there was no pandemic and if inflation was not elevated, our GDP could have been P21 trillion plus last year. So we really must have a sustainable COVID exit strategy and an effective program against inflation by reducing supply, production, distribution, and public spending problems.
