Poverty and productivity

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY

Ka IkingSeñeres

I am not an economist, but I understand well enough that we could reduce our poverty rate by simply increasing our productivity. I also understand that through a balanced combination of import substitution and export promotion, we could create more jobs that could contribute to the reduction of our poverty rate.

           

I am particularly keen on import substitution, because I have noticed that we are importing food products that we could actually be producing these locally, instead of making rich the countries that produce these foods, while our own people who are poor are unable to afford them.

           

I have it from a reliable source that about 70% of the ingredients used in the production of local animal feeds are imported, consisting mostly of soybean meal, fish meal and meat and bone meal. I have always wondered about this, because I have always known that the substitutes to these imports are available locally.

           

In search of an answer, I discovered that the local manufacturers would rather import these ingredients instead of using the local substitutes, because the supplies of the latter are unreliable, and their prices and qualities are unstable. Imagine that!

           

Common sense would tell us that just like human beings, the farm animals would need a balanced diet of vegetables, fish and meat proteins. In the case of these animals, corn and soybeans are the most common source of animal proteins. I could understand why soybeans would be difficult to produce locally in volume, but what about corn? Are we not supposed to be a corn producing country? And what about mongo beans? Why could we not produce these locally in big volumes? Aside from mongo, there are other crops in the legume family that could be produced here.

           

Since we are an archipelagic country, it is difficult to understand why we are unable to produce fish meal locally. Can you imagine that? We are surrounded by the oceans, and yet we are importing the fish meal that we are feeding to our hogs and chickens! Again in search of an answer,

           

I discovered that the anchovies that we are importing from Peru and Chile are cheaper and are always available in the same high quality when they are needed, thus the local production targets are always met on schedule. In order to compete with imported fish meal prices, why not subsidize its local production?

           

Meat and bone meal is an entirely different issue, because most of local meat parts are cooked into edible dishes, and even the bones are thrown in into soup recipes. I was even surprised to find out that a high percentage of the meats used in processed foods are also imported, and there was a big controversy about this recently when it was discovered that these meat ingredients are being diverted to the public markets instead of being delivered to the factories where these are supposed to go. Are we really so hopeless so much so that we could not produce our own meat and bone meal?

           

I do not have the answers to our problems in the macroeconomic level, but I think I have the solutions for this problem at the micro level. The answer of course is to teach our local farmers how to make their own feeds where they are, using the local ingredients that are available to them locally, as long as the rule of feeding balanced diets to the farm animals could be followed, never mind what the substitutes are. Never mind also that the big manufacturers could not be as flexible in using substitutes, because they have their own ways, and they know what to do.

           

Earthworms and rabbits are two of the practical sources of meat proteins, and both could be produced quickly in big volumes. Both would also eat trash food, thus eliminating the problem of feeding them with expensive inputs. As a bonus, both could also produce castings quickly, both being quality ingredients of organic fertilizers.

           

Of course, the latter could also be used to grow organic vegetable proteins that are good for the farm animals as well. This is a positive supply chain that we should promote for the benefit of the small farmers.

           

All told, the hope for the small farmers lies in the local cooperatives that they could own and operate. These are the cooperatives that could teach their members to make their own animal feeds, in the process helping them also to raise their own hogs and chickens and on top of that, will also help them market their farm produce. The cooperatives are the ties that will bind these farmers into a solid chain that will take them out of poverty, by simply helping them increase their productivity.

           

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