Rural exodus: Agriculture's biggest woe

As an old farmer’s wisdom lays it, “the farm’s best fertilizer is the owner’s footprint”. It isn’t urea, phosphorous or potassium. Simply put, even if one uses for his farm the most complete and expensive fertilizers and plant nutrients, these will all be for naught without the farm owner’s presence, footprints and hands on it.

Soon, most of these farms will totally miss their stewards’ presence. Recent reports revealed that even agriculture graduates disdain farming. A Filipino sociologist has observed that “Most agriculture graduates do everything but farm; they take government jobs, teach, do research, etc. They don’t want to touch the soil.” Worst, agricultural workers are dwindling every year as most of them, as surveyed by the Food and Agricultural Organization, migrate to urban areas seeking for better paying jobs. Some, in fact, are working as mere household helpers because, to most of them, these jobs have given them better rewards than that of the farms.

Yes, we’ve seen migration for years now. Even before the Middle Eastern countries started to explore their oil reserves and have attracted thousands of Filipinos, migration was already considered the most preferred option amongst us. Today, it is even becoming more popular. We called it rural exodus or rural flight.

Rural exodus or rural flight refers to migratory patterns that normally happen in a depressed region or province. Due to limited opportunities, there tends to be a movement of people from the rural areas to the urban areas. The search for better lives has always been their common denominator.

In both instances, the advent of modern technology has been the biggest contributor to this phenomenon. News or reports about progressive countries or cities and the better lives of their inhabitants (true or not) can be heard or seen right in their or their neighbors’ living rooms. Naturally, the dream to try their luck mounts.

Also, the advancement of communication technology made it easy for these hopefuls to make decisions. Though they have to leave their families for the time being, the portability of their best communication equipment made them more comfortable even if they are far away. They are fully aware that knowing their families’ well-being is just a call away.

Indeed, while the availability of real-time communication benefited the majority of the country’s population in many ways, it has also somehow hastened rural exodus. Consequently, congestion in the urban areas is sickening and inactivity in the countryside is deafening. Worst, both situations have added concerns on criminality in the urban areas and productivity in the countryside. 

Once and for all, let us seriously look into the crisis besetting the country today. Then, we shall see if we do or don’t have programs that are supposedly designed to address them. Knowing that these crises are either man-made or due to man’s negligence, probably, some proposals are now being deliberated to reinforce what had been done so far.

Due to rural exodus or rural flight, consequently, on top of the list is food shortage. All these years, this concern has been provided with temporary solutions. The temporary solutions are a combination of rice importation and government subsidy through the National Food Authority (NFA). These initiatives as solutions are mere perceptions. It is just like a painkiller prescribed for a cancer patient. It might take out the pain momentarily but not cure it. Precariously, these temporarily solutions are disguising as permanent. Worst, our government executives are embracing it as such. 

Lest we must forget, one of the more popular programs of all governments-that is from Ramon Magsaysay to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo- that shall keep farmers in the countryside has been the land for the landless program. While these governments had termed it differently in their stay, the ultimate objective is the same.   Supposedly, in trying to empower them by owning the lands they till, they will not only free themselves out of poverty, they shall be able help this country attain food-sufficiency. 

On the contrary, however, instead of helping this country be self-sufficient, we are continuing to subsidize this program. All these years, the beneficiaries have continued to behave like slaves when in fact, money-wise, this government had already spent a lot to free them. Worst, they’ve started to act like mendicants by raking in over P4.0 billion in annual subsidy.

With all these annual budgets for many years now, what has so far been achieved? Nothing much. Except for a few, some lands are abandoned. Others groups of beneficiaries who organized themselves into cooperatives are not cultivating them. Ironically, some of these beneficiaries are leasing out their lands and content themselves by simply earning rental. 

Now, some portions are cultivated. Sarcastically, however, non-beneficiaries of CARP maintain these. These non-beneficiaries are mostly entrepreneurs and are profitably cultivating the same land where the beneficiaries failed.    This scenario isn’t difficult to comprehend. It simply means that they should abandon the mentality of slaves and bury the attitude of mendicants. They are now free to till the land they own and be successful entrepreneurs (or as the new coined term aptly labeled it, agripreneurs).

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) cannot help them in this concern. As records would show, apart from the anomalous unliquidated advances and questionable training fees and consultancy fees in 2006, DAR (per COA’s audit), in 2008, awarded more than the prescribed ceiling of three hectares each to one thousand three hundred sixty five (1,365) agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). This is, apparently, a violation of Sec. 25, RA 6657. Frankly, without belittling themselves, history tells us that they’ve been proven failures in this poverty alleviation program. As downright misfits, they could never turn these beneficiaries into budding agripreneurs. Due to this predicament, DAR at this stage is so incompetent and unnecessary.  

From this development, what is imperative now is for this government to let other line agencies (like DTI, DA, DOST, et.) get involve and help equip these beneficiaries with sound entrepreneurial skills by taking a more holistic and comprehensive approach. We should develop successful new farmers by providing them experience-based production and sound business-management training. Such training must include among others, concerns in production, business, ecology and environment.  

Training on production should include planting, harvesting, irrigation system, livestock, etc. Business trainings must include marketing, finances, budgeting, etc. To ensure success, this government must provide the necessary infrastructure, such as, farm to market roads, irrigation, storage facilities, transport equipment, packing and processing facilities.

Once and for all, this government should be straightforward. In the past, we all know that our former presidents tasked DAR (which have been ran by ideologues) to take the lead in this poverty alleviation program for some ulterior motives. While we all know that our country’s leaders need these ideologues’ political support because of their mass base, the beneficiaries’ betterment and self-sufficiency through agripreneurship are still paramount and necessary. 

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