Debacle at the Department of Agriculture

The Department of Agriculture has been thrust into the limelight these days, with reports on rice sufficiency issues and shortages in sugar and salt. This brings many other things to mind that have been plaguing the Agriculture Sector in our country for a long time. Our farmers are aging, and the land that they till are being taken from them by the housing and industrial sectors. These farmers have also been beset by problems in inadequate and expensive farm equipment, destruction of crops due to typhoons and other natural disasters, and insufficient government programs on pests and diseases that can affect production. And the high cost of credit leaves the farmers with very little or no options at all to augment their capital, not to mention the low cost of their produce at the end of it all.

All these problems are directly related to the continued growth in poverty, especially in the rural areas, and the threat of food security in the entire nation. And where lies the future of agriculture, if our youth do not want to engage in farming anymore? With more mouths to feed due to an ever-growing population, and many issues hurting our agriculture, there is an urgent need for real solutions, and for corruption to stop getting in the way of implementing these solutions, covering the entire chain from production to marketing.

What can we, ordinary citizens, do in our own simple ways to support agriculture? The young environmental activist from Sweden, Greta Thunberg, has said it so well: we can take climate change seriously, since the effects of climate change have complicated the problems and challenges that farmers have to face.

TRIVIA:

My wife Minda and I, together with our whole family, send our condolences to the family of Atty Clarita Padilla on her demise. Atty. Padilla was a joyful company on many occasions.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

“AGRICULTURE IS OUR WISEST PURSUIT, BECAUSE IT CONTRIBUTES MOST TO REAL WEALTH, GOOD MORALS AND HAPPINESS” -THOMAS JEFFERSON

FOR OUR WORD OF LIFE:

“Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” -GENESIS 1:11