‘High-tech’ track on menu to boost PHL agri By Samuel P. Medenilla sam_medenilla
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WORLD » A12
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RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the government is now tackling “structural” issues in the agriculture sector, which includes the country's prevalent small-scale farming, to ensure national food security. In a chance interview with reporters following the distribution of government aid at the CWC-Kafuerte Sports Center in Pili, Camarines Sur
on Thursday, Marcos discussed government efforts to boost food production. Foremost of their initiatives, he said, is to consolidate small farms into large tracks of agricultural land to boost production efficiency. “Para tumaas ang production natin, para bumaba ang presyo ng produksyon, kailangan malalaki, malalawak ang mga pinag-aanihan, ang sinasaka. Dito sa Pilipinas maliliit lang, so we depend on cooperatives. [For the production
to increase and bring down the price of production, we need to large farmlands. Here in the Philippines (the farms) are small so we depend on cooperative],” Marcos said. Furthermore, he said cooperatives will also allow farmers to receive from the government such as access to hybrid or inbred crops and fertilizers. The same scheme, he said, can also be applied to hog raisers and poultry farms to improve the country’s re-
sponse against animal diseases such as the African Swine Fever, which has devastated the local hog industry since it was locally detected in 2019. “We need to consolidate them to control the biosecurity in their area,” Marcos said. The President said the Department of Agriculture (DA), which he currently directly leads, is partnering with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to achieve this. See “High-tech,” A2
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‘MB rate moves hinge on inflation’ By Cai U. Ordinario
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SHEEN OF DESTRUCTION Oil-covered boulders on the shores of Barangay Buhay na Tubig in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, are silent witnesses to the devastation wrought by the oil spill from the MT Princess Empress, which sank on February 28 off the coast of Naujan town.
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NFLATION is the primary driver of the decisions made by the Monetary Board on whether or not to raise key policy rates, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Stories on A2 and A5. PHOTO FROM OCEANA PHILS.
Construction items’ prices grow slowest in 11 months
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BSP Gover nor Fel ipe M. Medalla made the pronouncement following the decision of the State Bank of Vietnam to cut its key rates by 100 basis points.
ONSTRUCTION material prices in the National Capital Region (NCR) slowed to 5.4 percent in February 2023, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The PSA data showed this is the slowest growth of the Construction Materials Retail Price Index in Metro Manila in 11 months. In March 2022, the index posted a 4.8-percent growth. The growth of the CMRPI, however, has started to slow after it peaked at 7 percent in July 2022. The PSA data showed that the CMRPI grew 3.3 percent in February 2022 and was at 5.5 percent in January 2023.
See “MB,” A2
See “Construction,” A2
ILO: KEY SECTORS’ WORKERS ‘UNDERVALUED’ IN PHL
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ESPITE their considerable contributions, especially during the pandemic, workers in eight main occupational groups remain “undervalued” in the Philippines and other countries, according to a new International Labor Organization (ILO) report. In its World Employment and Social Outlook 2023: The Value of Essential Work (WESO), the labor arm of the United Nations (UN) reported how workers in the said “key sectors” suffer poor working conditions such as low wages and long work hours. The key sectors are health,
food systems, retail, security, cleaning and sanitation, transport, manual, and technical and clerical occupations. “The poor working conditions of key workers exacerbate employee turnover and labor shortages, jeopardizing the provision of basic services. Improvements in working conditions and greater investment in food systems, health care and other key sectors are necessary for building economic and social resilience to shocks,” ILO said in a statement.
National and local situation
The WESO noted that 29 per-
cent of key workers are low paid, which ILO defined as receiving pay that is less than two-thirds of the hourly median wage. Forty-six percent of key workers, particularly those from low-income countries, also work long hours. A considerable number or about a third of the workers are also employed through temporary contracts. “Nearly 60 percent of key workers in low- and middle-income countries lack some form of social protection,” ILO said. Here in the Philippines, ILO
highlighted the lack of formal regulations governing homebased caregiving as well as how hospital staff were required to stay in temporary accommodation away from their families for long periods at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. The report also zeroed in on how security guards worked long shifts and had to deal with “stressful” situations from customers during the pandemic on top of their lack of job security, minimum income security or entitlement to paid leaves. See “ILO,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 54.8610 n japan 0.4115 n UK 66.1240 n HK 6.9901 n CHINA 7.9432 n singapore 40.5927 n australia 36.2796 n EU 58.0539 n KOREA 0.0418 n SAUDI arabia 14.6082 Source: BSP (March 16, 2023)