Local food producers have urged the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to establish in 2024 a long-delayed agricultural statistics database that will be available to all stakeholders online.

In an interview on Tuesday, Elias Jose Inciong, president of the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA), said having easy access to crucial information will guide poultry farm managers in setting production targets that accurately reflect prevailing consumer demand.

He partially attributed the current oversupply in chicken meat to uninformed decision-making by local growers and importers.

“Poultry farms produced aggressively in anticipation of higher demand during the holidays. Importation of frozen chicken was just as aggressive for the same reason. But the expected high demand did not materialize… resulting in the oversupply of chicken we are seeing today,” Inciong said.

He said the glut in chicken meat has caused farm gate prices to drop to levels where poultry farmers are hardly breaking even with their investments.

Inciong said having a digital repository of agriculture data will help both entrepreneurs and government policy-makers make better decisions, drawn from the same vetted body of information.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. underscored the importance of digitalization in the improvement of government services during his last State of the Nation (SONA) address in July.

“Digitalization will support the government’s data-driven, science-based planning and decision-making. It is the greatest and most powerful tool, not just to improve ease of doing business, but also against many forms of graft and corruption,” the President said.

Marcos told agencies that “consistent with this transformative policy direction, all government offices must then ensure that their vital services are digitalized immediately.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) highlighted the need to embrace digitalization with the allocation of PHP38.75 billion in the 2024 budget, representing a 61 percent increase from its PHP24.93 billion funding this year.

“Technological advancement has given rise to a growing digital economy which continues to create new forms of work, transforming the employment landscape. Hence, investing in the digitalization of the bureaucracy is crucial not only in enhancing its efficiency but also in generating quality jobs for Filipinos,” DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said in a previous statement.

With a digitalization budget of over PHP2 billion in 2024, NEDA is among the 10 government agencies with the highest allocations for the program. (PNA)