SONA 2015: Agri concerns on the back burner
A week after PNoy’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), pundits and prophets of doom alike gave their comments on its content and made sure they got everyone’s attention. Others though opted to do their usual uncivilized ways by making scenes so unpalatable before and after the SONA. Their people on the ground made Manila’s already bad traffic condition worst and their taxpayer-paid representatives in Congress displayed nauseating decorum so inconsistent of their form.
Yes, this is a free nation. However, being free doesn’t mean we are to lose our propriety. Human beings as we are, we have our own eccentricities that, more often, result to varying preferences. One’s preferences, being not on the list of someone’s priorities, however, doesn’t give him/her the right to create a scene for such lame excuse of exercising his/her freedom of expression, like what the Makabayan bloc did in Congress.
I and some bunch of “outcome-oriented” friends have our expectations too. We also felt that concerns of the agriculture sector were overlooked. We can only surmise that improving this sector needs more than just mere inclusion in the SONA because the issues are deeply rooted. That soaring prices of farm products and the growing inefficiency of the agriculture sector need more in-depth discussion.
Admittedly, the era of cheap food prices is over. Supposedly, that’s good news to our farmers, the unsung heroes since time immemorial, because they can earn more. Ironically however, they aren’t. The reasons are simple. Majority of those who belong to this unfortunate sector are simply salivating on such attractive prices as their harvest are either just enough for them or are just barely enough to cover for their loans or advances from the loan sharks who are masquerading as middlemen.
Unmindful of their misfortunes, we have to be reminded that these are the same farmers who are hardly recognized despite their immeasurable contribution to our economy in general and to every family’s dining table in particular. Indeed, until now, majority of our farmers are still languishing in abject poverty. Their state of stagnation is definitely a huge concern that should be addressed. The logic is very simple, when they remain poor, this country will remain poor. When they stay in dearth, likewise this country will be. A situation that is so revolting to a country known to be blessed with both relatively good weather and arable tract of lands.
True enough, nature has blessed us with great resources that are necessary to both ameliorate our poor farmers and adequately provide us with our needed staple. However, despite the abundance of all these prerequisites, it is a fact too that we remain starving. So insufficient for our needs, we opted to import the staple from our neighboring countries to bridge the demand and supply gap. Believing a supplier’s market is obtaining, our Southeast Asian neighbors took advantage and we paid a stiff price. Frankly, therefore, the very attractive prices pleased the farmers of our Southeast Asian neighbors, not our own. This is another big insult to a country that bragged to have trained these countries’ farmers several decades ago. So, what is really wrong with us? Did we try to take a look at this menacing grind? Or, have left everything to chance.
Mindful of the fact that our government structure is so adequate, let’s take a look at the departments that are perceivably tasked to directly address these concerns. There could be two departments that are directly involved in this. These are the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture. These departments’ roles are so straightforward. The question is, are they up to the task?
In the past administrations, these departments were both big failures with billions of pesos in unliquidated advances and hundreds of millions in questionable consultancy fees. Then, these departments’ programs were great, well, in paper. Supposedly, once implemented, these will certainly cut the usurious loan sharks or middlemen from the chain. Directly, therefore, farmers will benefit from better or attractive farm-produced prices. Purportedly, its fulfillment will encourage them to increase production thereby increasing family income and job opportunities. Sadly though, their implementation were lacking in both zest and transparency.
These facts were well documented in the audit reports of the Commission on Audit. From COA’s voluminous reports, it will be very easy to figure out the savagery these departments went through from its implementers. We can only hope that the remaining crooks in these departments will soon realize that these projects are intended for the poor farmers. Or, at the very least, PNoy should force them to realize such in his remaining months in office. They (the farmers) are the projects’ true beneficiaries, and, collectively, they only have one simple dream. That soon, they and their families shall live and not merely exist. Never deny them.
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