A study recently confirmed that more Filipino youth now shun away from agriculture while choosing industrial or service courses.
Another study also shows that 67% of the country’s population is dependent on agricultural sector, while it shows that the country’s farmers are aged between 35-54.
The implications are unthinkable, said National Youth Commissioner Benjie Oliva, who now urged Congress and the Department of Agriculture to invest more on agricultural scholarships to draw more interest in the country’s agri-production program.
A study by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Sustainable Development Department showed the country’s dependence on agriculture with 67% of the total population either directly or indirectly dependent on it.
On the National statistics Office’s Agriculture Sector Review in the Visayas, it also showed that majority of the agricultural operators are between 35-54 years old.
Over this, Commissioner Oliva noted that instead of going to even the scales, younger generations opt for service related courses if not industrial courses further making the food scarcity threat a reality.
With this, “the strong agricultural performance of the country will deteriorate in the coming years and agricultural production will be left behind,” Oliva added.
Stressing the recent lack of interest in agriculture among our youth, Oliva also stressed that it is one factor affecting the rice supply crisis.
Statistics clearly shows that more Filipino youth nowadays prefer white-collar jobs than dirty works in the field, he added.
Himself an agriculturist, Oliva cited that the country does not only have a food crisis but crisis of farm workers as well.
“Food security is not only focused on producing agricultural products but sustaining the human resource cultivating the agricultural lands” he pointed out.
Over this, he bared that “the government should not limit its investment to infrastructure but to human resource particularly in the agriculture sector through scholarships grants.
“We need more agricultural scientist, technicians and workers to double the farmers harvest and sufficient food for the table for every Filipino”, he added.
As this developed, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has also called on large corporations in the country to provide for the rice requirements of their employees.
Via Executive Order (EO) 721, the President said corporations with at least 500 employees and with landholdings suitable for rice production shall be encouraged to engage in rice production.
Under EO 721, which PGMA signed May 2, large corporations are urged to engage in rice production and rice importation to meet the needs of their employees.
The President said that corporations without landholdings but who decide to engage in rice production may lease public agricultural lands, subject to mutual agreement with owners of idle agricultural properties.
Meanwhile, the EO also said that corporations intending to import rice for their employees should signify to the NFA their intention to do so, adding that such importation shall be governed by existing laws on the matter.
She said that all rice importations undertaken under EO 721 should be coursed through the NFA and “shall be eligible for fiscal privileges within the authority of the NFA to provide.”
However, NFA may charge reasonable fees for services rendered in connection with the rice importation, EO 721 said.
The President explained that nothing in EO 721 “shall prevent large corporations from entering into any agreement or other forms of combinations among themselves for the purpose of engaging in the production and/or importation of rice, whenever the circumstances shall warrant.” (rachiu/PIA)