QUEZON CITY -- The pandemic’s effects will further squeeze consumer purchasing power, with Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar foreseeing further chokepoints in the global food supply chain leading to upward pressures on food production costs.

“The agriculture sector this year will confront global challenges, such as other countries stockpiling fertilizers and fuel prices going up,” he cautioned. “Our country will have to contend with rising consumer prices, as the rest of the world, even developed countries, is doing.

Local balanced measures to ensure affordability for food consumers are then all the more urgent,” he added.

Global food prices marked record highs during the pandemic, with the United Nations Index revealing a 28-percent rise, from grains to meat, in the last two years. Record levels of food inflation were last seen in 2011.

Labor shortages in transport and high freight costs have further grounded goods, especially during recent surges in Covid-19 infections in most countries. The rise of vaccine mandates among the largest global economic players is also seen to compound mobility issues among workers. Already, talks of obligatory vaccinations have ignited political turmoil in some countries.

In 2021, Philippine agriculture moreover suffered in the hands of typhoons, Typhoon Odette in Q4 being the most destructive. African Swine Fever (ASF) remains a conundrum with no commercialized vaccine in sight. The porcine disease dragged down growth in the livestock subsector by a low of 16 percent.

Such destructive forces will likely force total agriculture output into a contraction in 2021 and off its original target of 2 percent growth, analysts predict.

Balancing acts, food mobilizations, capacitation of FCAs

Secretary Dar issued a directive to DA regional field offices to keep up food mobilization from food surplus provinces to major metropolitan markets.

“We are enhancing production in areas and provinces around Metro Manila, such as Central Luzon, and creating a quadrant of food baskets around NCR.

Our regional field units have been tasked to empower farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) to export directly their surplus fruits and vegetables to metro areas,” he said.

The DA is on a firm path to galvanize farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) as more powerful players in the supply chain. Secretary Dar likewise directed DA units to prioritize FCA capacitation thru capitalization and the provision of agri-machinery and equipment.

FCA inclusion in the supply chain can also foster competition and discourage price increases in the supply of agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers.

Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita, the direct marketing program of the department, will intensify movements of frozen pork from arrival to public markets to clamp down more heavily on the price-padding tendencies of traders. More FCAs will be granted reefer vans.

The DA has consistently maintained importation as a policy of last resort in the event local production levels in basic food commodities come up substantially short against demand.

Secretary Dar cites the current inflation outlook as the current driver of importation: “We have to make affordable basic food items to the large Filipino consuming public, who get more than 50% of their protein source from pork, and 30% from fish, is on the line,” he said, amid the hue and cry of farmer and fisher groups and legislators against importation.

Meat inflation soared to as much as 17% in 2021, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) report on inflation.

Fish inflation also contributed to 2021 headline inflation by as much as 8 %.

More inspired hog repopulation efforts

The DA’s Bantay Presyo monitoring group reports that January prices of frozen pork kasim/ pigue ranged from P 200 to P 260 per kg, settling at a usual price of P 220 per kg. Frozen liempo prices generally hovered at Php 280 per kg, with a low of Php 240 per kg.

Frozen pork is sold at around half of the wet markets in the metro at prices significantly lower by about Php 120 to PhP 160 per kg. Supermarkets like Waltermart and Metro have also been selling imported, frozen pork well within the reduced prices.

Retail prices of fresh pork have ranged from P 340 per kg for kasim and P 380 per kg for liempo, respectively, in the first two weeks of January.

Secretary Dar put front and center the intensification of hog repopulation efforts in 2022 to substantially relieve local hog supply of deficits due to ASF.

DA is also making moves to incentivize hog repopulation for commercial hog raisers with planned talks with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the provision of income tax holidays for the next three to five years for participating companies.

“Hog repopulation is really key this year, as we pounce on the declining cases of ASF and time it with research and technological solutions,” he said. (FRamos, DA-Stratcomms)