Farmers, peasant women, fishers, and food security advocates trooped to the Department of Agriculture (DA) central office in Quezon City ahead of the SONA to give the executive agency a reality check on the actual situation of farmers, fishers, and the domestic agriculture.

KMP said the DA failed to protect the local agriculture and local producers, particularly farmers, fishers and agriculture stakeholders. The group said record-high rice and food prices, massive importation, and lower agriculture production will mark DA’s performance come the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday. “The state of PH agriculture is in shambles, and farmers have DA and Marcos Jr to blame,” according to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.

After seven months in office as the DA chief, Secretary Francis Tiu-Laurel failed to improve the overall state of the local agri production and food producers. He only kowtowed the existing import-liberalization policies. Worse, he allowed the further lowering of tariffs on imported rice and other agri products.

Under Marcos Jr and Tiu-Laurel’s watch, DA authorized the importation of the following agri products:

> 25,000 MT of fish

> 4.2 million MT of rice imports by year-end

> 200,000 MT of imported sugar

Smuggling remains unabated with thousands of metric tons of vegetable produce dumped into the local market. Rice prices remain sky-high with retail prices ranging from Php55 to over Php60 per kilo. The 22.5% rice inflation for June remains high and the exorbitant cost of food remains a top concern for ordinary Filipinos.

KMP, Amihan, Bantay Bigas, Pamalakaya, and other groups formed a human chain in front of the DA to show their “extreme dissatisfaction” with the DA and Malacanang.

“Nagpapatuloy ang suliranin sa lupa, bagsak ang produksyon ng agrikultura dahil sa kawalang suporta at programa ng gobyerno sa pagpapataas ng lokal na produksyon habang iniasa na lang sa importasyon ang pagkain ng bayan. Dapat ibasura ang mga patakarang import-liberalisasyon sa agrikultura at buwagin ang sabwatan ng gobyerno at mga sindikatong importer-ismagler,” demands KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.

The group reiterates that the assertion of genuine land reform is crucial in achieving food security and rice self-sufficiency for the Filipino people. “Rice is life for Filipinos but the population will always remain food insecure and hungry as long as there is no genuine land reform in the country. Farmers must defend and protect lands devoted to rice and food production from perennial landgrabbing and land-use conversion.”

While the DA and Marcos Jr claims that they are focusing on modernizing the local agriculture, they neglect the fact that genuine agrarian reform and free land distribution are necessary to agricultural transformation. Based on KMP’s data, seven out of 10 farmers remain landless, farmers have no legal ownership nor effective control over the lands they till, and rice farms are dwindling in size and remain insufficient. Haciendas and big landholdings remain intact and there are 1.2 million and 1.6 million hectares of current and proposed plantations devoted to banana, pineapple, oil palm, and other cash crops for export to the US, China, Japan, and Europe, respectively.

For her part, AMIHAN leader and Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said sectors expect nothing much from Marcos Jr’s SONA declaration on Monday. “Puro boladas sa Bagong Pilipinas” ang maririnig ng masa sa SONA ni BBM.” #