I WAS reading the morning papers when I learned that the Senate committee on agriculture and food is set to carry out a review to examine the country’s agricultural competitiveness and come up with government interventions that could lift farmers’ income while guaranteeing food security.
This is good news to me. I strongly believe that it is necessary to evaluate the present state of the agriculture sector, as this segment hires 23.9% of the Filipino workforce or roughly 10.3 million people. Not to mention the fact that this is the sector feeding all of us.
This so-called review could lead to the alignment of laws and policies that could alleviate and expand incomes of farmers and fisherfolk, making food affordable and accessible to the poor and marginalized sectors.
I can think of a few agriculture-related laws that need to be revisited and reviewed. Among them and must be a priority is the Agricultural Tariffication Act (Republic Act 8178) or the Rice Tariffication Act and RA 11598 or the Cash Assistance for Filipino Farmers Act. It is high time that government determine if this measure is really advantageous to the industry, to its workers, and for the country in general.
According to Sen. Chiz Escudero there is a need for all of us to do our share in making the agriculture industry strong and vigorous. Its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) continues to decline, and there is a need to stop this declining trend.
Based on official records, prior to the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the agriculture sector contributed 9.2% to the GDP – way below services (60.6%) and industries (30.2%) – from 2015’s 10.1%. And according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, poverty incidence among farmers was 31.6% in 2018, followed by fisherfolk at 26.2%.
In the city of gentle people
Here in Dumaguete, farming progressively becomes an unpopular sector and this is basically caused by a wrong mindset. Young men and women don’t like to pursue careers in agriculture as they would prefer to work in call centers and do odd jobs at fast-food chains and department stores.
I find it strange that for an agricultural place like our city/province where farming, fishing and related fields such as poultry raising and pig and cattle breeding are big economic activities, our people do not seem to be very interested in agricultural issues. Even in the media, not so many journalists would write about agriculture. The only time food issues come to the fore is when food prices suddenly spike and consumers begin to feel the squeeze.
Then there is the shrinking of agricultural lands which have been converted to residential or industrial purposes, thereby reducing significantly the city’s production capacity amid threats of climate change.
Things we can do
I know I sound like a broken record but I will repeat the things that I have been saying before over and over again. I believe it is really time for the government to seriously spice up the interest of the youth to go into farming through increased educational subsidies and scholarships for students who want to pursue occupations in the agricultural segment.
Agricultural colleges and universities should also be restructured or updated to facilitate a new breed of farmers to emerge and learn the world’s most advanced technologies in agricultural production.
Likewise, we need to strictly rip to pieces the stigma that farming is tough, filthy, financially unproductive and only for the uneducated. If we can revolutionize our farming industry, our farmers will never feel the need to look for other means of livelihood and we will become truly self-sufficient in our food requirements.
Agricultural courses and related fields must be fully subsidized to encourage the sons and daughters of farmers to continue the profession of their parents. I think everyone will agree with me that we have a saturation of nurses, teachers, criminologists and IT professionals and many of them end up in call centers or go abroad. Together with these professionals’ diaspora to seek “greener pastures,” the people who toil our soil have quickly vanished. There is a strong need to revive and bolster the agricultural profession before it is too late or before it goes extinct.
Farmers play a vital role in our daily lives. They are responsible for the food we put on our tables three times a day. They provide the resources for us to put clothes on our backs. Not only are farmers important to food production, they are also important in fuel and fiber production. Ethanol is not just important to the planet and everyone who drives but we would not have clothes without the farmers in the fiber industry.
We should make farming a productive and profitable enterprise. And I strongly believe that raising productivity does not only require increasing farm areas but also using hybrid seeds that produce more than the traditional seeds.
Farming could be a profitable venture through consolidation of farms and with the use hybrid seeds and other technology, it could help the sector gain economies of scale.
If we want to achieve the goal of food security, let us value our farmers and include them in the value chain. If we cannot stop the youth in seeking their fortunes in the cities and industries, then let us at least help those who stay in their farms to become effective and financially-successful entrepreneurs.
