ERICA GADOR BOCHENE

GRADE 10- GEMINI

AGRI-PINOY
 Agrikulturang Pilipino or Agri-Pinoy is the over-all strategic framework of the Department of Agriculture
that guide the various services and programs of the DA from 2011-2016 and beyond.

Agri-Pinoy incorporates principles and practices that optimize the development of Philippine resources,
natural and human, to achieve Philippine goals in agriculture and fisheries, and contribute to national
development.

We rely mainly on lessons drawn from Philippine experience, but we also learn from others, according to
the principle: Learn from others. Think for ourselves. While we focus on our Philippine goals, we also
contribute what we can toward the goals of the global community, in the spirit of interdependence.

This executive summary of Agri-Pinoy has three sections:

The four guiding principles of Agri-Pinoy

The Agri-Pinoy checklist
The challenges to the DA family
Four Guiding Principles of Agri-Pinoy

Food security and self-sufficiency

Sustainable agriculture and fisheries
Natural resource management
Local development
Food security and self-sufficiency. Agri-Pinoy seeks to meet the food needs of the Philippines,
particularly staple food, and make them accessible, affordable, safe and nutritious. Sapat, ligtas, at abot-
kayang pagkain sa lahat.

In the pursuit of food security, Agri-Pinoy seeks to minimize our dependence on food imports, especially
of staple food, by optimizing the development of the natural and human resources of the Philippines,
toward increased productivity and increased incomes especially of primary producers.

Agri-Pinoy promotes the principle of food self-sufficiency with full awareness of our global
interdependence, and our various commitments international trade agreements. Our trade policies and
practices are integral to our efforts to achieve food security and self-sufficiency.

Sustainable agriculture and fisheries. To meet the ever growing needs of a growing Philippine population,
we need to continually increase productivity. But in doing so, we must also insure sustainability, both
ecologically and economically.

Agri-Pinoys emphasis on sustainable agricultural and fisheries principles and practices takes into account
the limited bio-physical carrying capacity of the Philippines, while investing to expand the capacity of our
human resources.

We must insure that producers and other stakeholders in the whole value chain from farm to table
receive economic benefits that enable them to sustain their participation.

Natural resource management. In line with our goals of self-reliance and sustainability, Agri-Pinoy
focuses on the natural resource endowments of the Philippines, and how to manage them so that they are
not exhausted, while enhancing their competitive advantage.

We seek to optimize rather than merely maximize the development of our natural resources.
 Local development. The devolution of governance and the recognition of an eco-system framework of
development reinforce the Agri-Pinoy guiding principle of local development.

While all outputs can be aggregated to calculate the total contribution of agriculture and fisheries to
national development, Agri-Pinoy gives due emphasis to the contribution of agriculture and fisheries to
local development.

These four guiding principles of Agri-Pinoy are interrelated and overlap. Together, they also provide
agriculture and fisheries in the Philippines a better chance to face the two major challenges of climate
change and changes in the global market.

The Agri-Pinoy Check List

Broad-based
From Farm to Table
Sustainable systems
Resilience
Partnership
Broad-based. At the heart of Agri-Pinoy is a commitment to a broad-based strategy for the growth and
development of agriculture and fisheries.

Why is a broad-based strategy needed? Agricultural and rural development must start from the reality that
through agrarian reform, majority of our farms are family-sized or even smaller.

This need not be a disadvantage since there are enough evidence that small farm systems can be as
productive as large farms.

In fact, at their current level of productivity, the small producers still contribute the biggest percentage of
production in agriculture and fisheries.

A broad-based strategy calls for equitable and proportional allocation of DA services and resources to
small, medium, and big players. From the 30-35 per cent who have been traditionally reached by DA
services, we need to reach out to the majority who are small producers.

The other implication is that we need to take account of the different stakeholders in the whole value
chain, and adopt specific and appropriate interventions to different stakeholders

Broad-based refers not only to size but also to diversity of crops and production systems. This is
important for flexibility and resilience in the face of climate change and changes in global trading system.
There are many downsides to large-scale monoculture, not just because of the impact on biodiversity but
also because of disproportionate risks.

From Farm to Table. Agri-Pinoy addresses the whole system, from production to consumption. Both
supply-side management and demand-side management are needed.

Instead of looking mainly into production, we need to pay attention to the whole value chain. This includes
good soil and water management, and improved seeds. The community seed-banking program seeks to
encourage local seed growers to produce certified seeds and farmers to use them. The extension system
needs to be revitalized through the massive retraining of technicians and farmers themselves.
 The policy of the DA is to devote public resources to those items that the farmers cannot take care of, like
irrigation systems, infrastructure, post-harvest facilities, and other public goods.

But the DA also has responsibility to insure food safety and quality, primarily through our regulatory
function. We also need to promote responsible consumption.

Sustainable farming and fisheries systems. The need to integrate sustainability into efforts to increase
productivity is well established. The challenge is to provide our primary producers information and
assistance so that they can adopt and develop innovative technologies and management systems.

As mentioned earlier, the requirements of sustainability are both ecological and economic. But there is a
third element that is even more challenging insuring the successor generation to our aging farming and
fishing population.

The Gulayan sa Paaralan project with the Department of Education seeks to develop an appreciation for
agriculture from an early age. We also need to review and draw lessons from programs like the 4-H clubs
and Future Farmers Clubs.

But to enhance the appeal of farming and fishing, we must also communicate well their income prospects,
as well as promote a social appreciation of the role of farmers and fishers. We need to develop role
models of farmer-technicians, farmer-scientists, and farmer-entrepreneurs.

Resilience. Although implicit in the concept of sustainability, we give resilience a distinct emphasis
because of the increased impacts of climate change and changes in the global market.

These actual and potential impacts have to be integrated into any agricultural and fisheries development
plan. We also need to combine satellite mapping of vulnerabilities with soil suitability and market analysis.

One key strategy is the empowerment of farmers and fishers, including provision of timely and useful
information about climate change and market change. This can help them shift back from a situation of
uncertainty to calculable risks.

In addition, they must be assisted to diversify options and introduced to adaptive technologies.

Partnerships. The promotion and development of Agri-Pinoy calls for partnerships at various levels.

Partnerships with national agencies. Our starting partnership is with the members of the
National Convergence Initiative which is chaired by the DA the Department of Agrarian Reform and
the department of Environment and Natural Resources. However, other national agencies may come
into this partnership.

The NCI has adopted an ecosystem approach to rural development and governance: From ridge,
through river, to reef. We bring to it our commitment to a broad-based approach favoring small
producers and farms, but using information and organization to achieve the needed scale in planning
and marketing, from farm to table.
Partnerships with local governments. Devolution demands this. We need to work with the
DILG to assist LGUs to integrate agriculture and fisheries into their local development plans. This calls
for technical assistance and capacity building, and strategic project partnerships.
Partnerships with NGOs and peoples organizations. The two or more million farmers and
fishers are the backbone of the production system. They need to be organized and also developed to
 become farmer-technicians, farmer-scientists, and farmer-entrepreneurs. To accomplish this, we need
to partner with rural development NGOs who are willing to work within a shared Agri-Pinoy framework.

Partnerships with the private sector. Our Agri-Pinoy framework of farm to table requires that
we partner with many stakeholders, and the private sector play crucial roles across the whole value
chain. In addition, it is government policy to promote public-private partnerships especially in larger
projects.

In forging partnerships, we follow the principle of diversity. We are open to work with different
organizations and even different political persuasions, so long as they are willing to enter into principled
partnerships, based on the principles of Agri-Pinoy.