DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A Mindanao farmers support group welcomed the Davao City Council’s plan for a food security program, calling it “long overdue” to address the state of agriculture in the city.
During the resumption of Davao’s Sangguniang Panlungsod session Tuesday, January 13, Councilor Ralph Abella, who chairs the council’s Committee on Agriculture, Aquaculture and Food, said his priority this year is to craft the Food Security Code of Davao.
The code, which Abella said was initially proposed in September last year, will focus on helping the rice and vegetable farmers in the hinterlands of the city as well as develop the city’s aquaculture sector.
The councilor did not go to specifics on the timetable of passing this code, but he said he will incorporate other proposals for this legislation.
Abella noted three food types that Davao City is not producing and relies on neighboring towns and provinces.
“We have to identify (what we don’t supply here). Number one (is) rice—we are buying from outside sources, from neighboring provinces, and we are even importing. Number two is fish — our sources are from Gensan, Davao del Sur, and other areas in Mindanao. Third, vegetables — where do we source this? Kapatagan. There’s plenty of it there. In fact, we’re even importing carrots now,” Abella said.
The councilor said the city government is considering setting up milling machines in areas where rice fields are present, assisting rice farmers by providing agricultural inputs, allowing them access to loan assistance from the city government, and introducing regenerative farming practices to make the agriculture sector more resilient to climate change.
Shift from cacao to rice?
Despite being an urbanized city, Davao still has large mountainous areas, and agriculture is the city’s largest economic sector.
But Abella’s proposal points to a shift from the city government’s agricultural plan, as the city has promoted cacao and coffee production.
The councilor said the city government must also shift its focus to “local reproduction” for domestic consumption.
“To start, we have to focus on local reproduction, not on outside sources. We are not going to export yet, but hopefully we can do it. As of now, we have to invest in places that we can use for production,” he said.
The City Government of Davao opened 8,000 hectares of land in the Paquibato and Marilog districts for cacao expansion in 2023. It also expanded coffee plantations to 113.19 hectares across seven barangays in Toril, Marilog, Baguio, Tugbok, Calinan, Catigan, and Sibulan from 2021 to 2022.
While cacao and coffee expansion reached the mountainous areas of Paquibato District, the city government also opened its durian market for export, primarily to China, encouraging more farmers to convert crops for export production.
Protect agriculture
Reacting to this councilor’s proposal, the group Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG) hopes that the planned Food Security Code could help boost local food security.
Its Mindanao regional coordinator Leo XL Fuentes, laid out proposals he hopes the City Council will adapt in the code.
Fuentes said the council should review all data on landholdings, including the prioritization of crops that genuinely address food security.
Such review, he said, will show that rice self-sufficiency in the city is “close to impossible” due to several factors: land ownership issues and limited suitability of land for lowland rice production.
Upland rice production, he added, also suffers due to crop conversion for export-oriented agricultural products.
“Kaning mga area nato dire sa Calinan, Wangan, ug sa mga unahan pa nga naa pay mga umahan, padayon gyud nga nagakakunhod. Dapat naay comprehensive nga pagtuon sa yuta. Kay even ang atong mga uplands karon, padayon nga naga-encroach ang mga plantations para sa export crops sama sa kape, cacao, ug uban pa, (There are areas here in Calinan, Wangan, and other farms beyond those areas that are dwindling. There should be a comprehensive study of the landholding. Because even the uplands are being encroached by plantations for export crops such as coffee, cacao and others)” Fuentes said.
The farming advocate suggested that if the city government is moving toward ensuring rice sustainability, it has to “declare zones for rice growing” intended solely for rice consumption, while restricting the expansion of export crops and land conversion in these areas.
He also proposed to Councilor Abella the creation of a rice sufficiency plan that would address the landlessness of many farmers interested in both lowland and upland rice farming.
Fuentes said this proposal may arrive late with the city’s thrust of exporting farm products but the City Council and advocates should prepare to push for farm sustainability and food security.
“Kung sa hisgutanang naulahi, naulahi gyud ta. Daku og hangak gyud, ug uphill battle gyud ni para sa tanan, (If we say this is late, it is indeed late. It’s going to be a long uphill battle for everyone)” he said.(davaotoday.com)
