Enhancing Philippine agriculture
As farmlands in the Philippines are dwindling due to conversion into industrial complexes and residential sites and as population keeps on increasing, there is need to save the remaining areas for cultivation and review the family planning program of the government.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has prioritized agriculture in his administration and has taken the leadership of the Department of Agriculture in a concurrent capacity to address the food crisis.
The President could duplicate the strategy of his late father where farmers were given a set of technologies in the efficient growing of crops and raising of animals coupled with financial support to boost production.
It was successful and our country became an exporter of food commodities then. This also encouraged people to engage in farming which was profitable.
Another thing to consider is to have an inheritance law on agricultural lands where only those educated or trained in agriculture could inherit the farm. In this way, the land is conserved and its use optimized.
It is also advantageous to organize functional farmers’ cooperative to systematize agriculture.
Now is the time to move, to do away with importation, and to work hard to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. — PERCIVAL B. ALIPIT, Baguio City