Candidates driving away the youth from agriculture

We were really amused listening to the senatorial wannabe’s. All of them are saying that the poorest of the poor are the farmers, and they are there, these old and new politicians, saying that they are ready to offer help. We have not heard, however, of a concrete idea that they gave that will really help solve the poverty of farmers, except some saying giving government subsidy to farmers.

By picturing the farmers as the poorest of the poor, they are actually deglamorizing farming so that the young people would rather get into some other career other than agriculture.

The candidates don’t seem to know that there are thousands upon thousands of farmers who have helped themselves to become financially secure, thanks to the modern varieties and farming technologies. Every year, one seed company honors its Farmer Heroes in recognition of their excellent performance in crop production that is highly rewarding. Many farmers have become rich by planting hybrid vegetables and other high-value crops. Plant- ers of new corn varieties and hybrid rice have become well off, enabling them to send their children to school.

These successful farmers are the people who have acquired skills that empower them. These are the farmers who are hardworking and who know how to save and invest a good portion of their incomes.

We just came from a visit to vegetable farmers in the mountains of Majayjay, Laguna. Many of them cultivate just two to eight hectares of land, either owned or rented, that they use to produce vegetables year-round, knowing how to rotate their crops for more sustainable farming.

Many of the farmers we met have beautiful concrete houses, and they don’t have relatives who are OFWs. They are full-time farmers who know their business. It is about time the politicians also know that there are farmers who are not poor but are rich in their own right. The politicos who are constantly saying that farmers are the poorest of the poor only make young people shun agriculture. These politicos help discourage the youth to go into agribusiness.

PROGRESSIVE FARMER – Bonifacio Consebido is a successful farmer in Brgy. Taytay, Majayjay, Laguna. He plants Jenjen cucumber and radish which are high-yielding and have short gestation periods. The cucumber, in photo with Consebido, for instance, starts producing fruits in 40 to 45 days from planting. The seeds are relatively cheap so that planting the variety does not require a big investment.