By Anthony A. Araos
One sector the Marcos Administration focuses on is agriculture. A lot of right-thinking Filipinos say it’s correct because of what might happen with impoverished farmers with agriculture’s poor record in light of the precarious direction the officialdom is taking.
So you’re going to see more and more of our farmers experiencing difficulties and I think inaction of their problems will exacerbate the situation.
The details of how small Hungduan farmers aired their grievances during the Stakeholders Forum at the Grand View Hotel in Banaue, Ifugao are critical.
A farmer –officer of the Ifugao Heirloom Rice Cooperative and the other from another cooperative received “promises” of assistance from Agriculture Secretary Francis Laurel Jr. All told what they got were merely “peanuts” or crumbs. Small farm implements at most. I think this band-aid or piece-meal solution only adds pressure on the national government to hasten its “ease-the-problem” approach in the near-term. This is because such action can help appease their outcries.
The ripple effect of having to absorb more problems of a backward agriculture will be hardest on farmers (as well as fisher folks) in the coming months due to the unabated effects of the energy crisis.
We usually speak of vegetables and rice raised in Ifugao. Yet, there is no end of the influx of imported rice and veggies such as onions and carrots from China. This only deepens the import-dependent economy which has undeniably keeps the country’s agriculture underdeveloped. Even shocking is the fact that fertilizers from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran are being dumped in the Philippines.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Philippine rice self-sufficiency level declined to 77 percent in 2022 from 81.5 percent in 2021. So create possible solutions. Some bright boys of the administration resorted to importing rice from China, Vietnam and India. The result: the Philippines is presently the top rice importer country worldwide. As a result, Filipino farmers are gasping for life at Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Do you believe that farmers are happy? No. They are aptly described as among the “poorest of the poor”. This description shocks me into nervous attention.
The rice at the table comes from the sweat, hard work and blood not of Filipino farmers, but of Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian farmers. Flooding the market of “imported rice” is an infuriating evidence of a sinister plot of killing the Filipino farmers.
Modernization of agriculture (a major goal of Secretary Laurel) has for its object the upgrading of the farming sector’s character, which, freely translated, means the termination of outdated practices. I hardly heard it mentioned during the forum. Nothing could be better calculated to produce an “unenlightened” sector than the fact that there were more local officials than farmers themselves at the forum.
Wishing that such an activity could be focused on mechanization, climate resilience and food security instead of photo ops. Wishing that such an endeavor could be glued on the discussion on programs that directly and immediately benefit farmers such as legal services, aid and assistance, purchase of farmers produce and more investment in infrastructure, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities and farm-to-market roads, among others.
Wishing too that there are no separate lines for officials and farmers during registration. The scariest thought indeed.
Farmers have suffered for a very long time. Sun-baked hard working farmers are feeding the nation. Is that what you want?
I hope that in my forthcoming meetings with Secretary Laurel. Governor Dalipog and Senator Francis Pangilinan (chair of the committee on agriculture, food and agrarian reform) to communicate the true and complete picture of the Ifugao farming sector story and the reasons behind the need to push for “reforms”.
For focus should be on this “vital” sector this time to ensure adequate, healthy and affordable food for all Filipinos.
The forum’s supposed goal of lifting farmers out of poverty should not end in a photo opportunity session with Secretary Laurel when the farmers are still reeling from the effects of high cost of living notwithstanding the “ayuda” (dole out) program.
Transforming the agriculture sector by making farming a viable undertaking and effectively connecting thousands of farmers to market opportunities is utterly essential. In short, an increased budgetary allocation in the General Appropriations Act of 2027 is a step in the right direction, a step into the still better future.**
