With the appointment of businessman Francisco “Kiko” Laurel as full time Secretary of Agriculture, the tables are now turned.
Yes, the tables have been turned on all of us who wanted a full time secretary who could focus on all our agricultural concerns as well as act on the tons of unsolicited advice and agenda. Much like the saying “Put your money where your mouth is,” we must now “work on working together” with the new secretary, instead of being spectators.
Knowing all the disappointments we collectively share from failed leadership, the corruption and promotion of vested commercial interests in the DA and the consequences of obstructionist and uncooperative positions, we would all be stupid to continue separately promoting interests and concerns or playing safe and not telling the new secretary who the dirty rats are in the building as well as making earnest efforts to help him with humility.
As a media practitioner and being pro-local agriculture, I have had the privilege to interview and meet up with many leaders and experts in the agriculture industry. After some time, I have come to realize that the reason why the agricultural industry does not get the attention and priority it deserves is because all the leaders, groups, sectors, etc. have individually done things on their own, thereby becoming so small and inconsequential to the big picture.
They have kept within their own little sector, cooperative or association and have not focused on achieving the numbers and the presence that get the media’s attention which in turn makes politicians listen and they have refused to recognize that in order to change what’s wrong in the system, you must be in the system.
Politicians and media pay attention to numbers and followers, almost like what kids do now in social media. Unless you have many followers, get thousands of likes or subscribers, you’re not really an influencer. For the leaders of agricultural organizations, those numbers remain hidden, dormant and unfelt.
The truth is millions of people are in agriculture, but they have been spread out among sectors, areas, regions or specializations to the point that each group has thinned out the millions down to 500 to a thousand active members. To make things worse, many people involved in agriculture are too busy doing their thing that the numbers are not backed with presence. Even the rich retired or pro agriculture millionaires “stay in the farm in silence” to the point that their influence as public figures is not associated with agriculture. They love farming but won’t talk about or fight for it!
For the most part, the media and politicians only talk about agriculture in relation to food prices, inflation and potential consumer backlash, but never in the context of concern for agriculture stakeholders. Industry leaders meanwhile have been relegated to being a reliable source for sound bites and resource speakers for interviews on palengke news.
In comparison, you hear, see and are affected by a handful of jeepney drivers declaring transport strikes, scared by nurse’s associations who plan “protest breaks” or lone wolves that speak out against defective laws, government policies or even government officials. Unlike other industries that have put up dedicated lobby groups, associations or offices to promote interests and concerns, the agriculture sector remains “kanya kanya” or “to each his own.”
In other countries such as India, France and the Netherlands, farmers take to the streets, drive out in the open road in their tractors to join protest marches or sit ins that last weeks or months until supply chains begin to be affected and the government must come to the table to deal. These are real farmers and not activists.
Local farmer groups, on the other hand, have not made efforts to understand how to utilize media and work with media for the benefit of Philippine agriculture. Getting interviewed or mentioned in the front page every now and then does not get the respect and attention of politicians and people in power. Unlike other industries that have a face or persona, agriculture has none, just presidents and association chairmen speaking for groups.
If our friends in agriculture are intent on getting what they want from government, then they must work at working together amongst themselves. They must organize, band together and determine things like realistic short-term/medium-term/long-term objectives for the entire industry, such as a plan to revitalize sectors, equip, capacitate and sustain capabilities and productivity and fixed-term plan for stopping importation of agricultural products and the like. You cannot continue coming to the table to complain while taking dole outs from the DA.
From there they must appoint dedicated representatives, spokespersons or willing champions of agriculture to regularly engage media, influencers and public leaders to promote the multi-level plans of the industry. Public support cannot be gained until the public is educated about what is in it for them when agriculture is boosted and what we all lose if things don’t change.
The first person who needs to hear the story is the Secretary of Agriculture, who comes with a fresh pair of eyes, much to hear and learn and has the corporate experience to understand the value of cooperation and collaboration. But instead of telling the secretary what to do or what is wrong, ask him what we can do together, what we are offering and how can we help you, Mr. Secretary?
I may sound idealistic, but after all the failures in the past, people need to change their approach and way of doing things.
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