A billboard ad in EDSA stated that, THE YOUNGEST FARMER IN THE PHILIPPINES IS OVER 50 years old, that billboard I believe is not just an advertisement, it's a warning!
Considering our country as highly-agricultural and tagged as very rich in natural resources according to our Philippine history books, the problem lies in succession. It amplifies that the younger generation of Filipinos are unlikely to consider a career in farming. They are unaware of a farmer's importance and the imminent danger of food shortage in the years to come as the Philippine population triples.
The succession between the retirement of our aging farmers and the training of future farmers does not happen overnight. It takes time in handing-down knowledge of choosing the right seed, the right season to plant, and many other "trade secrets" to learn. Deep interest and patience are involved in mastering this skill.
Today, a Call Center Agent can take home a monthly salary of Php 25,000 to Php 30,000 compared to what a farmer can get after a yield of harvest, the take-home pay of a CCA is far higher.
The competition between working in an open field under the heat of the sun versus working on a well-air-condition room will surely empower a resistance if we try to force the younger generation to do the former. It is like imagining plowing a PC on a farm and see if it can mold a heap to bed a grain of rice.
In public schools children were taught to plant some vegetables like; swamp cabbage, okra, eggplant, tomato and etc. but the learning is "skin deep" (pahapyaw), the importance of agriculture must make an impact on learning. What the future generation knows about food security is not enough to lure them into farming. Come to think of it what the students learned at school is not farming it's gardening.
Our government is buying tons of food from other countries, countries that are once trained by Filipino agriculturists and food technologists on effective farming who are now more progressive than us in the field of food production. The next generation must acknowledge the truth, that technology is not palatable, it cannot sustain God-given life and a bite is different from a byte.
The importance of agriculture is not inculcated in our future generation. Our land is rich and fertile for farming and rice is our main source of energy not the Apple. If no younger generation would fill in this void and if no one will tend our rice paddies in the next decades to come, we'll be at the mercy of those nations who chooses to plant and till their soil than to bank on call centers and high-rise condominiums.
Last July 13, 2017, I was invited to attend one of the many series of seminars in-line with the celebration of the ASEAN@50: Partnering for Change, Engaging the World for STI. The seminar was held at the World Trade Center during the 2017 National Science and Technology Week, where heads of the Philippine bureaucrats, professionals and academe representatives were invited. In that event, food security, artificial intelligence and industry 4.0 and space technologies had their respective spotlights to convince us their importance. Questions from various representatives including those from the students were raised, but to my dismay less inquiry was heard that is strong enough to strengthen the importance of agriculture and fisheries over automation. From their opinions, as I have expected, our "intel-inside" generation is unaware of the most important aspect of our future . . . . Food Security!
Incoherence is in between knowing the need for one thing that can sustain life and ignore it, then do otherwise to sustain the sustainable.
drjohniecuison.blogspot.com Writings 2017 #05
Original Artwork by: Dr. Johnie Cuison
cuisonjohnie@gmail.com
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