KABAYAN party-list Rep. Ron Salo is batting for the passage of a bill mandating schools in the elementary and junior high school levels to conduct programs and activities to encourage the students to have an inclination toward agriculture, fisheries, forest and marine conservation and management, and ecology.
House Bill No. 6769, also known as the Agri-Scouting Act, aims to empower the youth to learn the importance of agriculture, fisheries, forest and marine conservation and management, and ecology, Salo said.
The measure aims to take a proactive stance in environment conservation and climate change resiliency, discover the fundamental concepts of proper food nutrition, and be acquainted with modern farming, fisheries, and food production methods.
“It is our aspiration that the learning process would instill in their young minds a sense of wonder that leads to awareness and initiative and a desire to engage in agriculture, fisheries, forest and marine conservation and management, and ecology. It is hoped that this will contribute to our collective aspiration of achieving food self-sufficiency,” he said.
The Philippines, primarily an agricultural country, should put a premium in the development of the agricultural sector since it is directly affecting the economy and the quality of life of the people, Salo said.
However, the lawmaker lamented that the country has a low food productivity despite its abundant natural resources, with Salo saying it is “quite concerning” and has now “become a national issue.”
To illustrate, he said that in the 2020 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Philippines recorded the highest number of food insecure people in Southeast Asia in 2017 to 2019, with 59 million Filipinos suffering from moderate to severe lack of consistent access to food.
“These findings were even recorded before the pandemic,” he said.
Salo said the inspiration behind the bill is the success of the Boy and Girl Scouts movement in the Philippines since 1938.
“Our youth have so much potential to address long-standing challenges, especially in food security. This is one of our ways to maximize that potential so they can truly contribute to society in the immediate future and for the generations to come,” he said. Rio N. Araja