LAGAWE, IFUGAO – – Hingyon is ever-optimistic it will meet its rice and food needs for 2018, the town’s agriculture officer said recently, as municipal officials here prepare for the staging of a historic gathering of farmers. It will be held on November 24 at the municipal gymnasium .
The gathering dubbed as Hingyon Farmers Convention can speed up crop production in this predominantly farming town. It has been billed as the largest gathering of farmers in Ifugao.
In an exclusive interview with the ZigZag Weekly, Mrs. Martha Urbano noted that farmers’ role in society is important thus, holding a high-level convention shall pave the way to provide an environment that will foster not only solidarity among soil tillers but also breakthroughs and innovations.
Speakers are expected to discuss major issues affecting the agriculture sector here. They include Governor Pedro Mayam-o and Board Members Victor Bunnol Jr. and Robert Humiwat.
Councilor Maximillian Luglug, who is also a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, shall also share his insights related to agriculture. Known for his advocacy for agricultural improvements and investments, Board Member Luglug certainly shall have his big moments with the participants. He is fully aware of the woes of a farmer’s work at the fields.
“We are relatively optimistic about improving the conditions of our farmers, said Urbano, one of the most active municipal agriculturists in this upland Cordillera province.
During the activity, the sentiments of farmers are to be amplified and heard loud and clear, organizers said, adding that they have urged the participants to take the opportunity to interact with local government officials and guests. Hingyon has two powerful and influential branches of government- executive and legislative.
Mayor Gerardo Luglug, Vice Mayor Avelino Dinamling and eight councilors are likely to be in attendance for this all-important occasion.
Cooperation among the agriculture sector stakeholders and the officialdom that sets the tone of the nearly-whole day learning event that seeks to be an in-depth sharing of the participants is a major goal of the organizers. In turn, public servants of the town are seen as catalysts in pushing farmers to adapt in present-day changes.
To date, Hingyon has been a significant source of the popular “Tinawon” rice.
The Hingyon “Tinawon” rice, just like the Banaue “Tinawon” rice variety, is expensive and raised only once a year.
Presumably because of these factors, the agriculture department wants all those linked to the agriculture sector here to refocus on plans and practices.
For the Ifugao farmer, then, it is still unnatural for the government to tell him what to do, and it is unthinkable for the national government to do so.
For quite some time, many expect productivity to improve further here and elsewhere in Ifugao, with President Duterte and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Pinol strongly batting for modernization of agriculture in the Philippines. Ifugao is still one of the poorest provinces in the country. The effects of outdated infrastructure and neglect of farmers’ needs have resulted to dismal crop harvest outputs. Lack of post-harvest facilities and poor communal irrigation systems are major concerns of impoverished farmers.
The need for substantial investments in agriculture is imperative at this point of time more than ever.
“The mayor, vice mayor and councilors have been very supportive of our farmers,” Mrs, Urbano said.
“This convention is vital because it shows that we are fully aware of the conditions of our farmers and are fully capable of responding to their needs,” Mrs. Urbano explained.
The outcome of the convention, Mrs. Urbano stressed, will be the agriculture sector’s input in the overall development blueprint of the Hingyon municipal government for next year and beyond.
Urbano said that the upcoming event is a follow through in the highly-successful, well-attended Hingyon Farmers Day a few months back that sought to give recognition to the invaluable contributions of farmers.
Verily, acting Provincial Agriculturist Catherine Buenaventura will also be around to exhort participants to have a deeper understanding of the current role of farmers in propelling growth and development. The Provincial Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Office (PAENRO) has been an institutional partner of the Hingyon municipal government for the past several years. Surely, the PAENRO’s most durable work here was the provision of seedlings and farm implements.
In the same breadth, participants are to learn a lot from the insights to be shared by Federation of Farmers and Rural Improvement Clubs and Agriculture and Fisheries Council president Milagros Dulnuan.
For the time being the provincial government made no official announcement on its participation of this all-important occasion. During the well-organized Hingyon Farmers Day at Namulditan Trading Post, two hghly-placed officials skipped the gathering. They opted instead to have representatives delivered their messages.
Guided by a spirit of innovation, Mrs. Urbano has put into action plans aimed at upgrading the conditions of farmers.
Mrs. Urbano, who has been tasked to give an overview of the activity, said that through the convention, farmers and public servants shall understand where the town’s agriculture sector is right now and where it is heading in the coming years.
A competition for Hingyon’s Gawad Saka entry and a chorus contest are also slated. Competitors are from the ranks of rural-based organizations (RBOs).
Blessed with fertile soil, Hingyon and the other ten towns of Ifugao ironically registered high poverty incidence. Farmers are poor. To address this, the provincial government should give farmers as well as fishermen ample support and incentives. Foremost, they need farm-to-market roads. Farm machineries and equipment are badly needed, most especially in far-flung villages. Farmers are in dire need of an effective marketing support network. This is illustrated in the absence of an Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in Ifugao.
Urbano said the municipal government would continue its interactive projects and socio-economic activities in 2018 to help not only farmers but also their families or loved ones.
Speaking at another occasion, Councilor Aquilino Namingit said he would support the passage of measures backing policies of the Luglug administration that he believes would be for welfare of the farmers and public good. Councilor Namingit is the chairman of the committee on agriculture.
Hingyon has 12 villages. In fact, there are more than a hundred farmers in each village at any given time, so as to influence the barangay’s socio-economic affairs. Mrs. Urbano placed the aggregate number of farmers in the town at about 1,300. With a small venue for the convention, only about 100 of them are most probably at hand to witness the activity’s fifth staging.
Convention backers and proponents, however, are confident that the newly-built facility at Barangay Namulditan will help farmers sell their produce as the activity’s theme “Moving towards shared prosperity” aptly lays the foundation of building the capacity of small farmers and even fisher folk to meet the challenges ahead.
Hingyon, with a population of nearly 9,300, engages and trades in rice and vegetables.
Amado (not his real name), a cash-strapped farmer of Barangay Southern Cababuyan, hopes the government will finally act on the problems of hardworking, sun-baked farmers like him.
So for the government to allow such hardships to persist would be like letting him walk on a tightrope. Have any of the provincial officials listened to his plea for assistance? The mounting difficulties, burden and anguish of an Ifugao farmer is nothing less than a throwback of yesteryears of the province. Governor Mayam-o, who hails from Hingyon and is a farmer by heart, must act swiftly and decisively on it, lest it become an issue in the 2019 polls to be used by a worthy opponent. **By Anthony A. Araos
