MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday urged farmers to change the schedule of planting their crops in response to climate change, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Marcos also directed the Department of Agriculture to "go into more detail on the cyclical nature of crops" in the country so importation would not happen during harvest season.
The agriculture sector should also "adjust accordingly" due to climate change, which "complicates things," he said.
“Hindi tayo nag-i-import ng kahit anong produkto pagka maraming production para naman magamit natin lahat ng production na galing sa Pilipinas,” Marcos said during his meeting with the agriculture department, which he leads.
“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," he added.
Meanwhile, he also directed the DA to craft measures to aid the fisheries sector and set up infrastructure and facilities. This includes, he said, improving fishing grounds and aquaculture, and rehabilitation of fish ports.
He also tasked the DA to carry out its agricultural and fishery technologies and equipment, based on the release.
“Now, kulang pa rin ang production natin sa fisheries kaya’t kailangan natin tingnan pati ‘yung tinatawag na mariculture ‘yung mga isda na nasa dagat. So that is basically what we were discussing and putting together also we were already starting to give the tasking to the different agencies like DTI, like DBP, LandBank, the CDA or the Cooperative Development Authority," Marcos said.
The Palace said that based on the Philippine Development Plan, the DA targets a growth rate of 1.8 percent to 3.3 percent in the agriculture sector from 2023 to 2028.
"Last year, the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (AFF) sector performed modestly at 0.5 percent," the statement read.