OPINION | Agribusiness, not just agriculture By Teresa S. Abesamis READ:
In a statement attributed to Einstein, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a diferent result is insanity. This seems to be the case with agriculture in our country. The people who produce our food are still among the poorest. We still have to import much of our basic food needs. Today, the President has decided to run the Department of Agriculture himself.
This will have to include fisheries, that subset in Agriculture which, ironically for an archipelago like ours, has been contributing so little to our GDP. It seems the only time it increased its contribution was when “Salas Boy” Malcolm Sarmiento headed the Bureau of Fisheries. He worked very hard to push for aquaculturesh sanctuaries, and value-adding such as sardines production in Zamboanga, his home province.
The head of this paper’s “mother company” has stated his intention to go into “agribusiness.” Perhaps the government can work with Manny V. Pangilinan to demonstrate boldness in redirecting our agriculture into agribusiness by providing tax relief and other incentives. Since no less than the President himself has chosen to head the government’s support system, boldness in policy and strategic direction is possible.
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