“In other countries, supply chain management application in agriculture is very much popular. Here in the Philippines, it is used mostly in the manufacturing industry”, said Dr. Ernesto O. Brown in an interview over “Bago Yan Ah”, a DZMM teleradio program.
Brown is the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD’s) Socio-Economics Research Division assistant director and coordinator of the program “Supply chain improvement (SCI) for selected commodities in AFNR (agriculture, forestry and natural resources)”.
“The Philippines is basically an agricultural country. However, the agriculture sector of the country is generally not competitive because of the weak supply chains”, Brown added.
Supply chain is a chain of different players and processes of the industry, from the source of raw materials to production, marketing, and consumption.
The weak supply chain is a development issue that the SCI program is addressing. The program conducts a thorough examination of every stage and process along the supply chain in relation to the various influencing factors: institutional, sociological, economic, etc. This approach includes analysis of the chain performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness.
Dr. Brown cites the case of SCI projects for abaca industry which are being implemented in Manambrag, Catanduanes; Valencia, Negros Oriental; Liloan, Leyte; and Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte.
“The Philippines has been producing abaca for a long time. Yet up to this time, abaca production has not been posing any significant increase in productivity. This is attributed to the ‘all-in’ selling of abaca fibers which the farmers harvest through hand-stripping. Consequently, farmers fail to reap any premium for the fibers sold and therefore are not enticed to adopt improved production practices“, Brown explained.
Dr. Brown also shared that, through the SCI project for abaca, farmers are capacitated with trainings on good agricultural practices, grading and classification, and entrepreneurship.
“The Fiber Industry Development Authority’s improved stripping devices are also provided to aid the farmers harvest better quality fibers. The project is also working on linking the farmers directly to the exporters, processors, and grader, baler, and establishments (GBEs),” Brown said in closing. (Mia Barbara D. Aranas, S&T Media Service)
