HOW CAN WE FIX OUR BROKEN VALUE CHAIN IN OUR AGRICULTURE?

HOW CAN WE FIX OUR BROKEN VALUE CHAIN IN OUR AGRICULTURE?

During Rome Nutrition Week 2026, IFAD President Álvaro Lario made a statement that every policymaker in the Philippines should carefully study. He reminded the world that nutrition starts long before food reaches the dining table. It starts with farmers who have access to quality inputs, adequate financing, functioning value chains, reliable infrastructure, and markets that fairly reward their hard work.

Everything that Lario said applies directly to the Philippines.

At the risk of stating the obvious, nutrition depends on agriculture. Without farmers, there is no food. Without food, there is no nutrition. The question is: Does our government recognize that our agricultural value chain is badly broken? Or are we pretending that the problem will somehow solve itself?

The Department of Agriculture cannot fix this alone. What we need is a whole-of-government—and perhaps even a whole-of-nation—approach. Agriculture involves roads, irrigation, electricity, telecommunications, financing, education, research, logistics, processing, marketing, and exports. Every agency has a role to play.

One of our weakest links is post-harvest handling. Farmers produce good crops, but many lose a significant portion of their harvest because of inadequate farm-to-market roads, insufficient cold storage, poor processing facilities, and expensive transportation. These losses translate into lower farmer incomes and higher consumer prices.

Another weak link is market access. Many small farmers still depend on middlemen because they lack bargaining power, storage facilities, and timely market information. Stronger agricultural cooperatives can aggregate production, negotiate better prices, purchase inputs in bulk, and even process products before they reach the market.

Technology should also become part of the solution. The government should establish an integrated national agricultural database that combines information on soil conditions, weather forecasts, crop production, logistics, inventories, and market demand. Farmers should know what to plant, when to plant, and where to sell before they even sow their seeds.

We should also invest more in localized food processing. Instead of transporting raw agricultural products over long distances, why not establish processing facilities near production areas? This creates jobs, reduces waste, increases shelf life, and generates higher value for farmers.

Equally important is making our agriculture climate-resilient. Diversifying into indigenous root crops, legumes, fruits, agroforestry systems, and integrated farming can reduce risks while improving nutrition and protecting the environment.

Finance is another missing piece. As Lario correctly pointed out, systems thinking without financing remains theoretical, while financing without functioning food systems produces limited results. Investment must go hand in hand with sound planning, effective implementation, and transparent monitoring.

Ultimately, fixing our agricultural value chain is not simply about producing more food. It is about connecting every link—from quality seeds and healthy soil to processing plants, logistics, markets, and consumers. When every link becomes stronger, farmers earn more, consumers pay fairer prices, and the nation becomes more food-secure.

Perhaps the time has come for us to stop treating agriculture as merely one sector of the economy. It is, in fact, the foundation of our nutrition, our rural development, and our national security.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres  iseneres@yahoo.com  senseneres.blogspot.com  09088877282/08-02-2027

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