Farmer Entrepreneurship? Better. Farm Cluster Entrepreneurship? Best!

This time I am concentrating on farm entrepreneurship, which many PH farmers do not observe, so they do not talk about profit and loss!

We want the Philippines to be self-sufficient in food, right? Now, as reported by Revin Mikhael D Ochave (18 May 2021, “Farm Aid Needs To Be Better Targeted To Achieve Competitiveness, Habito Says[1],” BusinessWorld), according to Cielito F Habito, former head of the National Economic Development Authority, speaking during the first day of the 2021 NationalFood Security Summit organized by the Department of Agriculture (DA):

Assistance should take the form of helping farmers expand their access to technology and inputs; improve their capacity as farm entrepreneurs; facilitate their access to markets, and achieve scale economies through farm clustering.

A short paragraph of 33 words that to me inadvertently and powerfully summarizes what William Dar has espoused for PH Agriculture since he became Secretary of Agriculture on 05 August 2019. Thus:

1. “Expand their access to technology and inputs” –
Mostly, we do not bring to the attention of farmers enough technologies for them to compare by results and decide for themselves which one(s) to adopt. And mostly, we do not assist farmers in identifying affordable & economic technologies for production. We simply allow the inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to predominate.

2. “Improve their capacity as farm entrepreneurs” –
Filipino farmers are notoriously notbusiness-minded, and so they do not practice any farm budgeting. No farm records whatsoever, no profit and loss computations. And they borrow from the usurers, paying 20% for any amount for any length of time.

3. “Facilitate their access to markets” –
And they sell their farm produce at the wrong time, during harvest time, when prices are the lowest! What we need to do is to assist them in marketing not only physically but also financially, so that they do not have to sell their produce at the wrong time just to raise funds for the family!

4. “Achieve scale economies through farm clustering” –
This advice is in line with a previous pronouncement by Mr Dar made last year, “DA Introduces Modern Cluster Farming[2]” (ANN, 11 November 2020. NewsLine Philippines, Newsline.ph). On that occasion, Mr Dar said, “It is important to convince farmers and their respective cooperatives and associations… to collectivize and come together to optimize the interventions and assistance provided by the DA and other government agencies.” The Bridge of Blessing Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (BBFAC) had partnered with an Israeli-based company (not identified) to engage in Modern Cluster Farming Technology. Evangeline B Bartolazo, BBFAC Chair, said they ventured into high-value vegetables such as lettuce, cauliflower, and salad tomato including eggplant, upo, and ampalaya. With the technology, the vegetable farmers doubled their yields and improved the quality of their produce.
(photograph on top from BBFAC, clustering image[3]from SlideServe)

And so I go back to farmer entrepreneurship, because it is the essence of farm clustering – as a cluster of entrepreneurs.

So yes, Sir – I happen to agree with all 4 of Mr Habito’s farm clustering recommendations!@517

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[1]https://www.bworldonline.com/farm-aid-needs-to-be-better-targeted-to-achieve-competitiveness-habito-says/?fbclid=IwAR04cumiF2Tc_324W427_5CcdCG2TABpWNKLYCKLLNJ9IcN3Yq4QhYw_EMg

[2]https://newsline.ph/top-stories/2020/11/11/da-introduces-modern-cluster-farming/

[3]https://www.slideserve.com/sofia/clustering-approach-for-agroenterprise-development