STAND FOR TRUTH
STORY: ELECTION SERIES (AGRICULTURE SECTOR)
ENGLISH
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): The salary of a rice farmer is not enough to provide for a family. It’s really hard!
TRINIDAD DOMINGO (MAGSASAKA): Some would say that they are not eating enough. I don’t see any progress to the farmers’ lives.
GEMMA TABIAN (MAGSASAKA): Farmers are forgotten heroes of the Philippines. The farmers are experiencing the hardest kind of life.
THIS PANDEMIC, THE LIVELIHOOD IS NOT GUARANTEED…
THAT’S WHY STARVATION CAN’T BE AVOIDED. AND EVEN THE SECTOR THAT FEEDS THE COUNTRY, CAN THEY STILL EAT? IN THIS ELECTION SERIES OF STAND FOR TRUTH… LET’S FIGURE OUT, WHY IS THERE STILL NO PROGRESS WITH THE LIVES OF SOME FARMERS IN THE PHILIPPINES?
TEASER SOTS ONLY
ASIDE FROM THE DECREASING FARM LANDS, THERE IS ALSO A DECREASING NUMBER OF FARMERS. A FEW GROUP OF FARMERS PROTESTED IN FRONT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. HOPEFULLY THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HELP US. IF IT’S HARD TO BE A FARMER BEFORE, IT’S EVEN HARDER NOW DURING THE PANDEMIC. THAT’S THE CHALLENGE FOR TATAY JOSE VIDAL OF OCCIDENTAL MINDORO. HE HAS BEEN FARMING RICE, VEGETABLES & FRUITS FOR 25 YEARS NOW.
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): Rice farming would take too much time before harvesting again. During the in between season, we could have been working side jobs. But since it is pandemic, we have to stay inside the house.
ACCORDING TO NANAY TRINIDAD OF NUEVA ECIJA, THE RICE GRANARY OF THE COUNTRY…
TRINIDAD DOMINGO (MAGSASAKA): When it rains, the price of the unmilled rice would decrease. For example, this season it’s Php 15.00 per kilo. When it rains, Php 12.00 is the most expensive. The farmer’s investment per kilo of unmilled rice is more than Php 12.00 . Where’s the earning? None!
DESPITE THEIR EFFORTS, THE FARMERS REMAIN AS THE POOREST SECTOR IN THE PHILIPPINES BASED ON THE LATEST POVERTY INCIDENCE REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY. BEFORE THE PANDEMIC HITS, THE DAILY AVERAGE BASIC PAY OF AN AGRICULTURAL WORKER IN THE PHILIPPINES IS PHP 247.81. THAT’S WHY IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLANT IN THE COUNTRY IS ALSO DECREASING INCLUDING THE RICE FARMERS. FROM 2.6 MILLION RICE FARMERS ON 2010, THE NUMBER DECREASES TO 2.2 MILLION LAST 2015. AND IT SEEMS THAT THE FARMERS LEFT WERE ALL AGED. TATAY JOSE REACHED THE AGE OF 59 WHILE NANAY TRINIDAD REACHED THE AGE OF 69. ACCORDING TO THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUHORITY, THE AVERAGE AGE OF A FARMER IS 55 YEARS OLD.
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): Some of our farmers would go to Manila for other opportunities like for example, there they can sell and earn. Compared to the farm, there’s no earnings.
GEMMA TABIAN (MAGSASAKA): Honestly, our children won’t choose to farm because they witnessed how hard our lives turned out.
ARE THERE ENOUGH AGING FARMERS THAT CAN PROVIDE FOOD FOR MORE THAN 100 MILLION FILIPINOS?
AGUSTIN ARCENAS (ECONOMIST): So what we’ll we do with the rice farmers if we drive them out of rice farming? That will cause instability that has impact to the economy. The real impact will be more of food security. It may contribute to the increase of food price. For example if we would one hundred percent depend on imports, then war took place from other countries, then that would place us on an unstable ground.
THE MORE THEIR EARNINGS DECREASES, THEIR NUMBER AND FARM LANDS ALSO DECREASES.
GEMMA TABIAN (MAGSASAKA): Even before we receive our earnings, we already loaned it with interest. When the harvest season approaches, we would loan again. We work in able to pay for the loan and a lot of times, we are short.
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): The reason why farmers sell their farm lands is because they didn’t receive their return of investment and at the same time, they are full of debt.
ACCORDING TO THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES’ ATA, ON 1991, THERE ARE MORE THAN 4 MILLION HECTARES OF FARM LANDS IN THE COUNTRY. IT SHRINKS TO 1.9 MILLION HECTARES ON 2012.
ASEC. NOEL REYES (SPOKESPERSON, DA): We have to implement the rules for land conversion. For us, Department of Agriculture, irrigated lands are non-negotiable. The lands with irrigation systems must not be converted.
EARWIN BELEN (AGRICULTURIST): Because of land conversion, our areas for production decreases. At the same time, our output also decreases. But of course, we are also considering the balance. How can we give attention to the agriculture sector and at the same time, how can we provide for the needs of the people? According to Economics, we have scarce resources. And everything is competing for these resources including agriculture and other uses for the land.
PROF. AGUSTIN ARCENAS (ECONOMIST): And the solution is to make a way for the remaining farmers to be very productive by providing them with machines & providing them all the necessary things to increase their productivity. So if their productivity increases, they don’t need too much land to produce the same amount of food.
IN AGRICULTURE, TO SPEED-UP THE PRODUCTION AND EARNINGS OF EACH FARMER, MECHANIZATION IS REALLY IMPORTANT. BUT IN THE PHILIPPINES, THE MECHANIZATION LEVEL IS LOWER COMPARED TO THE NEARBY COUNTRIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.
PROF. AGUSTIN ARCENAS (ECONOMIST): The disadvantage of having a lower level of mechanization is that the production cost is high. If our farmers would harvest manually while the other countries are advanced; I even saw a self-harvesting machine from other countries. Their productivity is high compared to the manual labor.
TO PLANT IS NOT EASY. EVERY SEED BEING PLANTED TAKES EFFORT TO HARVEST.
TRINIDAD DOMINGO (MAGSASAKA): The land preparation per hectare would cost Php 7,000.00. Then, we have to plow it twice. To crush it and cultivate it thrice. It already cost Php 21,000.00. The seed costs Php 30,000.00. From there, the sum total is already Php 51,000.00. Then we also have to pay for the labor of the farmers per hectare which costs Php 7,000.00. The investment to this costs more than Php 70,000.00 already. Then after planting, we have to use fertilizers to kill the excess grass and snails. The snails would usually destroy the unmilled rice. All in all, the investment for farming would cost almost Php 100,000.00 before the harvest season.
ACCORDING TO THE PHILIPPINE RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE’S DATA… THE PRODUCTION COST OF THE PHILIPPINES IS HIGHER COMPARED TO THAILAND AND VIETNAM.
ASEC. NOEL REYES (SPOKESPERSON, DA): That is actually what we want to change. The 10 Billion pesos worth of tariff being collected from the imported rice will be given to farm mechanization that is worth 5 Billion pesos every year. To mechanize our rice industry. There’s also a regular program for mechanization. It is part of the 4 major pillars of 1DA reform agenda; Farm consolidation & clustering, need to mechanize, need to modernize and then industrialize.
ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S DATA, FROM THE PAST 2 YEARS, THEY ALREADY PROCURED MORE THAN 15,000 UNITS OF FARM MACHINERIES AND EQUIPMENT. MORE THAN 600,000 FARMERS ARE ALREADY BENEFITING FROM IT. THIS YEAR, THEY ARE PLANNING TO PROCURE MORE THAN 5,000 UNITS OF FARM MACHINERIES AND EQUIPMENT THAT CAN BE USED BY MORE THAN 200,000 FARMERS. IN 2015, THERE WERE OVER 1.7 MILLION HECTARES OF IRRIGATED AREA NATIONWIDE. THIS IS 57% OF THE TOTAL IRRIGABLE LAND. THE AVERAGE GROWTH RATE IS 2.46% SINCE 2011. FROM THE LAST RECORD, THE TOTAL LAND AREA WITH EFFICIENT IRRIGATION FACILITIES IS OVER 2 MILLION HECTARES OR 64% OF THE TOTAL IRRIGABLE LAND IN THE PHILIPPINES. THERE IS STILL OVER 1 MILLION HECTARES WITHOUT IRRIGATION FACILITIES. FOR EXAMPLE IN NUEVA ECIJA, SOME OF THE REASONS ARE…LACK OF FUNDS… OLD CANAL FACILITIES… AND THERE ARE SOME LOT OWNERS WHO ARE NOT WILLING TO CONVERT THEIR LANDS INTO FARM LANDS.
ASEC. NOEL REYES (SPOKESPERSON, DA): There’s a lot more with no irrigation. If that’s a rice area, it should have. But it depends on the location. Kindly inform the regional office or provincial offices and make a proposal through their municipal agricultural officer or group of farmers association. Building a small water impounding projects or small reservoir is possible.
ON FEBRUARY 14, 2019, THE REPUBLIC ACT 11203 OR RICE TARIFFICATION LAW WAS APPROVED IN THE COUNTRY.
TRINIDAD DOMINGO (MAGSASAKA): They said that the price of milled rice will decrease while the price of unmilled rice will increase. But in this case, it’s the other way around. Even the price of the milled rice won’t decrease. The former price of an NFA rice which is Php 27.00 per kilo is now gone. Now, the price is more than Php 30.00 to Php 50.00. If you sold unmilled rice for Php 20.00 per kilo, then the price of the milled rice should be twice. The price of rice should be Php 40.00 only. But now, Php 40.00 is the cheapest. Where is the promise for a cheaper milled rice price?
RAUL MONTEMAYOR (MAGSASAKA): The imported products came in with a very low price that negatively affects the price of the local products. We are not against imported products, we are against too much imported products coming in the country that causes the local products’ price to decrease.
ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THE RTL IS ACTUALLY A SOLUTION TO THE FARMERS’ PROBLEMS.
ASEC. NOEL REYES (SPOKESPERSON, DA): To increase the productivity and income of the farmers. 5 Billion pesos for farm mechanization, these are free for group of farmers. 3 Billion pesos for inbred seeds, that is also free for RCEF areas. 1 Billion pesos for credit through landbank & DBP. 1 Billion pesos for training and extension c/o TESDA & agricultural training institutes. The excess will be used as financial assistance for rice farmers.
ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S DATA… SINCE THE APPROVAL OF RTL UP UNTIL TODAY, THE 10 BILLION PESOS SUBSIDY PER YEAR THROUGH RCEF FUND WAS ALREADY PROVIDED BASED ON THEIR PROMISES. WITHIN THE SPAN OF 3 YEARS SINCE THE APPROVAL OF RTL UP UNTIL AUGUST 2021, THE 30 BILLION PESOS WAS ALREADY GIVEN. 57 PROVINCES WITH 1.89 MILLION RICE FARMERS ARE BENEFITING FROM IT. IN ORDER TO MEET THE NEED OF THE FARMERS, SOME OF THEM WOULD SEEK SIDE JOBS.
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): What we usually do to earn more and to lessen the expenses for food consumption is that we plant other crops, vegetables, we do poultry like chicken and cow.
BUT ASIDE FROM PLANTING… THEY ALSO NEED HELP WHEN IT COMES TO HARVESTING.
RAUL MONTEMAYOR (MAGSASAKA): The biggest problem and concern of farmers is the price of their products. Give us the assurance that when we harvest, we will get the price that we deserve and not a loss for our part. Then we will handle it well. That is the big message coming out of the mouths of our farmers today.
EARWIN BELEN (AGRICULTURIST): One of the reasons why farmers were stuck or their income isn’t enough is because they are always at the production side. There are so many middle men, they contribute to the product’s value and they are the ones who receive the higher pay.
ASEC. NOEL REYES (SPOKESPERSON, DA): We really need the farm to market roads for our modernization, industrialization that is a pillar of the DA. We have a budget for the farm to market roads.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR WILL BE FORSAKEN?
EARWIN BELEN (AGRICULTURIST): There would be no food left for us. Most of our food is coming from agriculture. If we won’t focus on this, there’s a threat of hunger in the future.
DESPITE ALL THE CHALLENGES INCLUDING THE PANDEMIC, THE PHILIPPINE FARMERS REMAINED RESILIENT ACCORDING TO THE STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH. 86% OF THE FARMERS IN THE COUNTRY WOULD CONTINUOUSLY PLANT DESPITE THE THREAT OF THE VIRUS. THIS COMING ELECTION… THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR WHO FEEDS MORE THAN 100 MILLION FILIPINOS DESIRES THE FOLLOWING…
JOSE VIDAL (MAGSASAKA): The government should continue with their help for the farmers. If the farmers would quit, there will be a threat of starvation. Fix the irrigation system.
TRINIDAD DOMINGO (MAGSASAKA): My wish for the small-time farmers is for them to be debt-free and that they will no longer need to loan.
RAUL MONTEMAYOR (MAGSASAKA): We should give hope to our farmers. And also for them to eventually have a comfortable lives with enough essential things and for them to be able to send their children to school.
TO SUPPORT THEM FROM PLANTING OF SEEDS UP TO THE SELLING OF THEIR HARVEST… SO THAT THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR OF THE PHILIPPINES MAY OVERCOME POVERTY & HUNGER.
END