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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