Instead of incessantly complaining publicly, PH farmer leaders should go out privately and incessantly study with their farmer groups how to work out to become competitive in their own country.
Like targeting exports – we are laggards when we export but avantgarde when we import!
The new Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie, has just come out with his Thursday column at the Manila Times (24 October 2019, "The 'New Thinking' To Expand Agri Exports," 1st of 2 parts, manilatimes.net). Here's the thing; because we import so much, in celebrating our holidays such as Christmas, Manong Willie says:
The farmers, fishers and agribusiness enterprises from our Asean neighbors get richer and richer.
For the holidays, the non-Filipino Asean farmers have us Filipinos to be thankful for!
That is because our farmers go about their business without being competitive with our Asean cousins. We in the Philippines have excellent farm produce and products, but they are generally expensive compared to Asean competitors.
Which means: We Filipinos are good farmers but bad businessmen!
Why is farming bad in the Philippines? Because of the bad business side – we have yet to, for instance, practice economies of scale. (image from 123RF, 123rf.com)
The PH agrarian mentality is that our farmers cannot go economies of scale because our farmers do not own the land they are cultivating. Look at the above image again; it does not say anything about ownership of land or building. Don't tell me the Filipinos know better!
Farmer land ownership is the mantra of probably all PH farmer leaders, including some active and retired academics I know. Their logic is that if the farmer does not own the land, he is not motivated enough to make it productive and profitable.
Well, since President Ferdinand "FM" Marcos instituted Land Reform – on 10 September 1971, FM created the Department of Land Reform, now the Department of Agrarian Reform – can you tell me now how many hundreds of thousands of agrarian farmers have become prosperous because of land reform? None. FM wasn't always right!
Why don't those activist farm leaders and farmers learn from the recent aggie lesson from non-farmers Italian Patrick Renucci and his wife Filipina Rachel who are now producing for export Dalisay Rice in the storm-devastated Leyte!? I have written about it; see my essay of 10 September 2019, "New Paradigm In Rice Farming: Patrick & Rachel Renucci Give Us "SciTech Rice" (Ani Kita, ianikita.blogspot.com). Dalisay Rice is produced under conditions of economies of scale but the Renuccis do not own the lands!
Kung gusto, may paraan; kung ayaw, may dahilan!
With will, a way is found; without will, a weasel is forwarded!
With will, a way is found; without will, a weasel is forwarded!
In the meantime, as Manong Willie observes:
In the fruits section of supermarkets, more than 50 percent are filled with imported stocks.
Among the five top imports from our Asean neighbors included other food and live animals at $740.23 million, and cereal and cereal preparations at $700.85 million.
We Filipinos are eating imports we could produce. Aren't we ashamed of ourselves?@517
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