The incomplete circle

The Filipino is the consummate entrepreneur. We are such optimists when it comes to small start-ups, businesses, projects etc. Bundled as a “people” we are probably up there alongside India and China when it comes to courage and taking chances as well as taking out loans or investing hard earned salaries or savings. We are also a very teachable lot as I have observed whenever I participate in a “GO-NEGOSYO” training event, or during the numerous occasions I travel with experts from BMEG in order to stage the BMEG Fiestahan events where we teach people about the opportunities and challenges in Backyard Hog Raising.

As far as the sense for adventure and commitment to business is concerned, even the lowliest of Filipinos will dig in and produce something for the market. Alongside the Filipino Entrepreneur or “Buy & Sell” person, we also have companies and government agencies especially under the Department of Agriculture that give the necessary support for farmers, business people and entrepreneurs. Government officials have set up “Model Farms” particularly in the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon or Calabarzon area. I know the DA has an “experimental” livestock station where they have been busy developing, reviving or establishing native pigs, native chickens and goats. All this is of course aimed towards the DA’s dispersal program to help poor farmers improve their current livestock variety and gene pool.

While many older Filipinos continue to champion the unique and superior taste of the Native Chicken especially in “Tinola” or native Na Lechon, the sad truth is most localities barely have a thriving flock of native chickens because in-breeding has generally set in or because failure to vaccinate against New Castle disease or Fowl Pox and Cholera has decimated the pre-existing flocks. It’s interesting to note that Bill Gates is one of the latest “investors” in reviving the presence and popularity of “native chickens” for the poor. In the case of the native pigs, urbanization and the penetration of “factory type porcine” has rendered the native pig unpopular in terms of looks as well as fat content, except for hardcore guys like myself. Mabuhay ang native Lechon!

If we are to re-establish and educate people on raising livestock and food in their backyards, then they must have access to learning such as the BMEG Fiestahan and model farms such as the National Swine and Poultry Research and Development Center in Tiaong, Quezon headed by Dr. Rene Santiago. More teaching facilities such as the ITCPH or International Training Center for Pig Husbandry in Lipa City should be built at least for every region. In fact every region and major town or city should have its own Department of Agriculture Complex similar to what is being built up in Camarines Sur or the Urban Farm Training Center of Senator Cynthia Villar.

After the widespread damage and destruction that the “Cocolisap bug” caused in the CALABARZON my friend Erlene Manohar – Regional manager III of the Philippine Coconut Authority has been pushing hard for the establishment of Coconut “Model Farms” through joint cooperation with farm owners or retirees who have at least 5 to 10 hectares and are willing to create “Model farms” that will feature coconuts, chickens, pigs, vegetables, Tilapia, catfish, goats and fruit trees that will provide year round produce for consumption or sale.

After technology and mother nature got rid of the “Cocolisap infestation” many farmers and farm owners simply moved on but failed to realize that most coconut trees in the Calabarzon are already “Senior Citizens”, have become too high and difficult to climb or harvest from, susceptible to disease and minimalized in terms of fruit bearing. Farm owners seriously need to start planting their future trees and there are now better “Aromatic varieties” that are shorter but produces sweeter “Buko”. In fact there are three current replacement choices and I got them all in our very small plot. It’s survival of the fittest but we nurture them with constant fertilization.

I suggested to Erlene to also include smaller plots such one to two hectare properties because many weekend farmers and retirees have such cut-sizes and are more likely to share their knowledge and experience than big land owners many of whom even rejected the DA’s offer to spray their farms during the disaster!

The reason I entitled today’s column as “The Incomplete Circle” is because two major points remain unaddressed in terms of popularizing and reinvigorating agriculture is concerned:

Secretary Manny Piñol must sit down with DepEd officials so that more interest and appreciation in agriculture can be instilled in early education especially in the provinces. How silly is it that most kids want a quick 4-year course that will remove them from their localities and from the source of food. In the mean time many Metro Manila retirees attend courses, visit the Central Luzon State University to learn more about farming because they can’t find trained or educated people for agriculture. Now is the time to strengthen the Agri-track for K-12.

The Circle also remains incomplete because all entrepreneurs need a market ideally one that is dedicated to their type of product. There has been no united, legislated, national effort and policy to create or provide markets for this special circle of “small volume producers. Most experts have talked about a “Bagsakan” such as was conceived for the Food Terminal Inc. Complex. But making or creating such big Complexes makes them difficult to sustain except through commercial farms and producers. They are also perceived to be potential or actual threats to Giant Malls, food importers, Factory Farm operations and organized grocers and retailers.

What we need is simply to pass a law, implement a policy and a plan that would establish dedicated “Agricultural Products Markets” in every town or city where real farmers, sell their own products to their communities at community affordable prices. In terms of Food Security, this full circle will wean us out of our dependency from one region for vegetable, one or two regions for rice, one or two regions for chickens and eggs and one region for pork etc. It will reduce our carbon footprint, spur local economies and revive interest and respect for agriculture and raise up modern farmers to replace our aging farmers.

That is how we can complete the circle and compete.

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