EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - National Agricultural and Fishery Council ...

there are only two in Washington, D.C. In the ASEAN, a large market and
hosts competitors, there is none. The proposals are to:
a) increase by at least 50 percent the number of agriculture attaches by
2010; and
b) benchmark attaché numbers, tasks and budgets with ASEAN nations.
69. SUCs. Assign universities as repositories of information (market,
technologies, economics, and other global developments) like the
University of California Davis in the USA.
70. Capability Building Rule 111.5.7. The Rule provides that 5 percent of
the AFMP budget will be for capability building for scholarships, technical
upgrading and training, etc. It is proposed that this would include
capability building for DA, LGU and related agencies and industry and
producer associations in domestic and export marketing, feasibility
studies, market research, competitiveness and benchmarking, etc.
71. In closing, marketing and information are critical elements for agriculture
and fisheries competitiveness. The Philippines seats in the most dynamic
region of the world where demand for agri-food and value added products
will continue to grow. At the same time, Asia hosts among the most potent
competitors. Domestic producers must organize to achieve scale and hone
their competitive attributes of cost, quality, delivery and responsiveness,
and product innovation. Information gathering must be timely and
appropriate but at the same time, cost-effective. This calls for partnerships
with the supply/value chain players.
4.2 Trade and Fiscal Incentives
72. Trade is a major component of agriculture and fisheries modernization.
The law adopts open trade regime as one of its frameworks. The law is
also very clear in its rationale to pursue trade as provided by Section 2,
“Declaration of Policy” that “the state shall adopt the market approach…
and promote market-oriented policies in agricultural production to
encourage farmers to shift to more profitable crops.”
73. Under the same section, at least two of the seven principles have direct
relevance to trade. These specific principles are:
(a) “Global Competitiveness - the State shall enhance the competitiveness
of the Agriculture and Fisheries sectors in both domestic and foreign
markets” and
(b) “Protection from unfair competition - the State shall protect small farmers
and fisherfolk from unfair competition such as monopolistic and
oligopolistic practices by promoting a policy environment that provides
them priority access to credit and strengthened cooperative-based
marketing system.”
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