This is a repost of an article by former Senator Manny B. Villar which appeared in the Business Mirror on MARCH 6, 2017 (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/of-aging-farmers-and-food-security/)
Of the three major economic sectors – services, industry and agriculture – the latter is probably the most challenged, particularly because one of the challenges – weather disturbances – is beyond human control and often very destructive.
However, agriculture is the one economic sector that cannot be abandoned. Even the most industrialized nations like the United States and Japan maintain and continue developing a viable farming sector. Food security, after all, is essential to every person and every country.
In the Philippines, which boasts of large tracts of fertile lands, establishing food security is a continuing and sometimes daunting struggle, not only because of the many destructive typhoons that visit every year, but other factors as well.
One of these is the aging of the Filipino farmer: I have seen reports saying the average age of Filipino farmers at present is 57 to 59, which means they’re almost at retirement age, and will soon join the ranks of senior citizens. It also means that new generations of young farmers are not going to the agriculture sector.
The title of an article published by IRIN, an online publication focusing on crisis issues, seems prophetic: “Filipino farmers – a dying breed?”
The article, published in February 2013, quoted an agriculture department official as saying that with an average age of 57 years and assuming an average life span of 70, the Philippines might experience a “critical” shortage of farmers in 15 years.
We may be seeing that even now. I saw some newspaper reports saying farm owners in Central Luzon were already finding it difficult to hire workers during the planting and harvesting season.
The classical Filipino song, “Magtanim ay ’di biro,” offers a good explanation on why the children of farmers no longer want to follow in their parents’ footsteps. The parents themselves, who endured decades of backbreaking work and poverty, naturally want their children to have better lives. That’s Filipino culture and is part of our family values.
Based on government reports, poverty incidence is highest in the agricultural sector. So, for many farmers and their children, the way out of poverty is out of farming and into other means of livelihood, like working in the industrial sector or in the business process outsourcing industry.
With the growing urbanization in many parts of the country and the revival of many industries like manufacturing, the Philippines is gradually shifting from a mainly agricultural into an industrial economy. This serves as an attractive magnet for the youth in the agricultural communities.
As I said at the beginning, however, we cannot abandon agriculture because food security is vital to our survival as a nation. The aging of Filipino farmers may lead to food insecurity.
I think the issue regarding the number of farmers is affected by the structure of farming itself. It requires many workers because of the small size of farms.
The 2012 Census of Agriculture of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported 5.56 million farms covering 7.19 million hectares, which translated to an average area of 1.29 hectares per farm.
According to the report, 99 percent or 5.51 million of the farms in the country were operated by the households or by individual persons. These farms covered 6.78 million hectares or an average area of 1.23 hectares per farm.
Farms operated by partnerships accounted for 0.8 percent of total farms and corporations a mere 0.04 percent.
The solution is not to maintain a large number of farmers but to make farming a productive and profitable enterprise. One expert I met recently told me that raising productivity does not require increasing farm areas but using hybrid seeds that produce more than the traditional seeds.
Experts who spoke at a forum last year said farming could be a profitable venture through consolidation of farms, which would require a fewer number of operators. This and the use of hybrid seeds and other technology will help farming gain economies of scale.
Dr. Santiago R. Obien, senior technical adviser of the Department of Agriculture’s National Rice Program, said during the forum that in developed countries, farmers make up only about three percent of the population. He cited South Korea, whose farming population declined from 53 percent of the total population in 1960 to 16 percent at present. These farmers, according to Obien, are well-off.
Encouraging consolidation or corporate farming will not only solve the anticipated shortage of farmers but also help achieve the goal of food security.
Let’s not stop the youth from the farms who want to seek their fortunes in the cities and industries, but let’s help those who stay become successful entrepreneurs in the farms.
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Camp Le Merry 