The Department of Agriculture (DA) is entering the second half of the year with a renewed sense of urgency, with Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. calling for faster execution, stronger field coordination and data-driven planning as the country prepares for another El Niño episode expected to peak by November.
Speaking during Monday’s (June 29) flag ceremony, Tiu Laurel said the department had posted measurable improvements over the first half of the year, citing better results in internal assessments as well as evaluations by the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
While he congratulated DA personnel for the gains, he reminded them that the more difficult task is sustaining the momentum through the rest of the year as the agency prepares for looming weather and food security challenges.
The call mirrored the priorities Tiu Laurel laid out during the DA’s midyear Management Committee meeting last week, where he underscored the importance of acting before problems escalate.
“Preparedness prevents a challenge from becoming a crisis, and a crisis from deteriorating into a catastrophe. That must be our guiding principle in the months ahead,” he said.
Weather forecasters have pointed to another strong El Niño episode that is expected to peak around November, making the coming months critical for food production. Tiu Laurel said the department has more lead time than it did during the previous El Niño episode and should use that window to roll out mitigation measures.
He noted that external conditions have also become more favorable. Fuel prices have eased, while fertilizer prices have fallen sharply from a peak of about USD930 per metric ton to around USD450, with domestic retail prices expected to return to near pre-war levels of P1,600 to P2,000 per bag by August.
The lower input costs, he said, provide an opportunity to encourage farmers to maximize planting before the dry spell intensifies.
Rather than waiting for reservoirs to dry up or crops to fail, Tiu Laurel instructed the department to fast-track irrigation, water impounding and other climate adaptation projects, including small farm reservoirs that can also support fisheries and provide farmers with additional food and income.
Beyond immediate climate preparations, Tiu Laurel outlined a broader shift toward a food systems approach where production, storage, logistics, weather information and market demand are managed as one integrated network supported by real-time data.
He cited onions and carrots as examples where the Philippines already produces enough to meet domestic demand but continues to import because of inadequate storage and cold chain infrastructure.
Additional cold storage, blast freezers and logistics facilities, he said, would allow local harvests to be preserved longer and distributed more efficiently, significantly reducing the country’s dependence on imports.
The secretary also directed regional offices to identify each province’s strongest agricultural and fisheries commodities, quantify production capacity and measure post-harvest losses to guide investments in storage, processing and cold chain infrastructure.
The DA’s strategy over the next two years is straightforward, Tiu Laurel said the department should act earlier, plan smarter, and use better data to make Philippine agriculture more resilient while steadily reducing dependence on imported food.
