President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. wants a detailed cropping schedule to ensure that agricultural imports will not harm local production.

Following a briefing Tuesday with the Department of Agriculture (DA), together with the other concerned agencies, the President also asked agriculture officials to go into more detail on the cyclical nature of crops in the Philippines to avoid importing products during the harvest season.

The government, Marcos said, must consider the sensitivities of local cropping, particularly their cyclical nature when sourcing products abroad.

“Hindi tayo nag-i-import ng kahit anong produkto pagka maraming production para naman magamit natin lahat ng production na galing sa Pilipinas,” President Marcos said.

“Kung mag-i-import lang tayo, kung talagang may kulang and that’s what I mean about the cyclical nature of crops, that we have to be sensitive to that,” the chief executive added.

In response to climate change, Filipino farmers have to change their planting schedule in some areas of the Philippines to take advantage of the moving rainy season, Marcos said, adding it may bring some benefits since farmers can have three croppings a year.

The cyclical nature of agriculture already exists, the President said, adding, however, that with the advent of climate change, which complicates things, the sector should adjust accordingly.

Last year, the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (AFF) sector performed modestly at 0.5 percent.

The modest growth was attributed to the positive Gross Value Added (GVA) growth of 2.3 percent in livestock and 6.7 percent in poultry despite the decline in the performance of the crops and fisheries subsectors by -1.1 percent and -3.5 percent, respectively.

Under the Marcos administration’s Philippine Development Plan, the DA is targeting a growth rate of 1.8 percent to 3.3 percent in the agriculture sector from 2023 to 2028. (PND)