Agri sector faces farmer shortage

CEBU, Philippines - The agriculture sector in Cebu is now threatened by the looming shortage of farmers due to aging issues and urban employment that could possibly impede the growth of food production in the province.

This observation was raised by Cebu City agriculturist Joselito Baclayon in an interview with The Freeman who cited that the city government is aggressively working out on growing the interests of the youth to become food producers.

He said that existing farmers are getting older over the years while young individuals who have the potential to be farmers are actually more inclined to the advent of technology and migration to the city for work, thus the shortage of farmers.

If this cannot be solved, he said that the province and the country might suffer from food shortage.

“Nagkatiguwang na ang atong mga mag-uuma samtang ang atong mga kabatan-onan mas ganahan adto sa syudad motrabaho kay mas convenient para nila. Kon mopadayon kining mahitabo, wala gyud ta’y kaonon ani kon wala na sila,” (The farmers are getting older and the young ones now prefer to work in the urban areas because it’s more convenient for them. If this trend continues, time will come that we will no longer have food to eat.) He stated.

To date, there are 15,000 farmers in Cebu City.

The farming industry, Baclayon said, accounts a significant contribution in the country as it does not only produce food but also employ people from the rural areas for harvesting, care management and transport of goods to the market.

He added that they are encouraging out-of-school youth and high school graduates to be developed as young farmers. They also advised the academe to get involved by integrating agriculture in the educational curriculum and facilitating urban gardening in schools.

Further, the city government is active in conducting skills trainings, farm technology orientation and entrepreneurship programs to empower farmers in their livelihood.

Baclayon also urged the public to take active participation with such advocacy and partner with government agencies and private sector to increase the level of interest of potential farmers.

“There are a lot of opportunities in the agriculture sector. In fact, very conducive ang soil sa Cebu City for food production,” he said.

Ronald Paras who is the provincial coordinator for Cebu of the Department of Agriculture Region 7 echoed the same sentiments, adding that there is a huge demand for food but less demand for food producers.

“Farmers are getting older and there are less of the new breeds of farmers,” he said.

Paras added that the agriculture department is presently working on giving incentives among existing and budding farmers especially in terms of financial and technological assistance.

Earlier, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Arsenio Balisacan urged the private sector to help in addressing the unemployment and underemployment problems specifically in the agriculture sector in the country.

He said that such industry could contribute to achieve the government’s goals on poverty reduction and inclusive growth.

In the latest NEDA report, the agriculture sector in Central Visayas posted a decline of 9.9 percent in terms of agricultural production for 2012 compared to the remarkable performance of 31.4 percent  in 2011.

Such downturn was attributed to the weak performance of the crop subsector that accounts for more than 80 percent of the agricultural output and the continued poor turnout of the fishery sector last year. /JOB (FREEMAN)