While the government is having a hard time ensuring food security, the Philippines is witnessing the extinction of its farmers, a party-list legislator said on Tuesday.
“With the next generation running after globally-competitive careers, and with only a few willing to absorb the practice and knowledge of agriculture, this ‘extinction’ poses a great threat to the country’s food security,” AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin said as she pushed for the speedy passage of House Bill 3596, or the the Young Farmers Program Act.
The bill seeks to attract incoming college students to choose and complete a field in agriculture and fisheries, while providing institutionalized programs on those disciplines in public and private tertiary schools.
“We want the youth to immerse themselves once again in the noble practice of agriculture. There is a need to reinforce the idea that it is a viable career option. We must also dispel the notion that farming is tedious, unsustainable, and unglamorous. Indeed, the timeless Christian proverb, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,’ has become relevant more than ever,” Garin said in a statement.
As of October 2018, agricultural workers comprise just 25 percent of the country’s labor force, from 35.7 percent in 2016, and 39.5 percent in 1998, Garin said, quoting data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Upon the enactment of the bill, the National Agriculture and Fisheries Education System which is an integrated system of agriculture and fishery education covering both public and private institutions in all three levels of the shall be created.
The bill provides that once enacted, the Young Farmers Committee to be chaired by the Commissioner on Higher Education, with arepresentatives of NAFES as vice chairman shall oversee the implementation and the creation of the rules implementing the measure.
To help the youth in agri-business and agri-entrepreneurship endeavors, the bill mandates the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology to assist Young Farmers Organizations (YFOs) through trainings and by creating comprehensive business plans.
Those agencies “shall also promote the products of these YFOs to the domestic and foreign markets, while providing assistance in product development, quality control an0d packaging.”
Through the passage of the bill, Garin hopes to bring an inclusive program that will also be accessible to out-of-school youth with academic background in agriculture and fisheries.