[OPINION] The Department of Agriculture and Dictatorship

'The trains might be leaving on time, but we are getting nowhere.' Opinion Voices

The signs were there early on, and we did not see it coming. The incoming Secretary of Agriculture was a product of martial law. The past is prologue. Unfortunately, many are either incapable of any long-term vision for the future, or we are simply dismissive of any kind of economics beyond our immediate households and current circumstances.

On one hand we knew we needed seasoned, qualified, and credible technocrats for the traditional team of macroeconomic managers assembled to tackle technicalities that range from monetary management, liquidity, taxes, and fiscal management, to the sourcing of finances, whether debt or equity investments.

Our leaders should have taken their education seriously. Had they simply glanced at and understood the basket of goods that dictates our consumer price index, then they would have quickly seen that food expenses not only skew prices upward but also provide the most volatility within the basket. Adding the concept of sticky inflation, they might have realized that the agriculture portfolio is probably the most important coming out of a pandemic.

Now check the charts. Our highest food prices were under officials neither profoundly experienced in their agricultural portfolios nor effective in developing food security. Lacking any real depth, study, and critical analysis, solutions to volatility remain autocratic if not dictatorial. Raid warehouses, take pictures, import, and repeat.The leadership at the Department of Agriculture is the weakest we have had.

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