Pangilinan vows to make farming 'enticing' for young Pinoys

PANGILINAN VOWS TO MAKE FARMING 'ENTICING' FOR YOUNG PINOYS

Emphasizing the critical role of the youth in revitalizing the country's agriculture sector and ensuring food security for future generations, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan vowed to make farming "enticing" for young Filipinos by improving incomes and providing sufficient government support.

Speaking on Rappler's "In The Public Square" on Wednesday, July 30, the senator expressed renewed hope that young Filipinos will pursue farming if the country moves away from subsistence farming and toward farm enterprise management and farm ecotourism.

Legislation, he added, must be passed "to bring young Filipinos into agriculture and farming."

"The full implementation, actually, of the Sagip Saka Act will entice young people to come into farming," Pangilinan, who is now Senate Committee on Agriculture chairperson, stressed. "How do you make it exciting? Simple. Make it worthwhile, valuable. Don't expect them to take a vow of poverty."

Farmers, the senator explained, must reap the fruits of their labor by becoming the direct beneficiaries of the government's billions' worth of food programs.

This is what the Sagip Saka Act, whose long title is "Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Program of the Department of Agriculture," hopes to achieve by allowing national and local governments to purchase food directly from farmers and fishermen without public bidding.

"We'd like to see billions of government funding flowing into the pockets of our farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives. We'd like to see increased incomes," he said, citing how the revenue of one farmer cooperative jumped by nine times--from P7 million in 2019 to P62 million in 2020-after 13 local government units bought rice directly from them.

"So, that's your game changer if it is done right," Pangilinan added. "Otherwise, what's the point of funding all of this when they (farmers) continue to be exploited? You will have better yields, but it's the middleman who will reap better margins, larger profits, because your farmers are weak and disorganized and are exploited."

Since his return to the Senate this month, Pangilinan has filed resolutions to investigate the implementation of the Sagip Saka Act, the high prices of food, the Rice Tariffication Law, and the impact of commercial fishing inside the 15-kilometer municipal waters on small-scale fishers.

He also filed a bill creating the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and is proposing the passage of the Agricultural Land Conversion Ban and the Post Harvest Facilities Support Act.

Interview courtesy of Rappler's "In the Public Square with John Nery" https://www.youtube.com/live/DxcN2jbRA2k?si=vp383tUMtAYOe7-X

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