Davao region farmers eager to dish out agenda for change

It’s the season for change.
While the youth sector expects to see a change in the country’s political landscape, small-scale farmers want to dish out food agenda instead of they be given rice,  noodles and sardines during election season.
Several people’s organizations and non-government organizations espousing agricultural development, gathered recently at the Davao del Norte provincial government’s Bulwagan ng Lalawigan in a food caucus that tackled “Confronting the Food Question Amid the Crisis.”
Among them were the Davao Provinces Rural Development Institutes, Inc. (DPRDI), Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes (Philnet-RDI), Pambansang Kilusan ng Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), Social Action Ministry Diocese of Tagum, Builders for Empowerment and Human Rights Advocates Network, Development Round Table Series and the Kilusan ng mga Samahan ng Maralitang Mamamayan sa Kanayunan (KASAMAKA).
Among others, the group aims to come up with a policy agenda on food and agriculture that politicians can adopt as their platform of governance as small-scale farmers are starting to realize that  political candidates should present concrete agenda rather than “empty promises.”
In analyzing the food and agriculture situation in Mindanao, Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes (Phil-Net RDI)  vice chairperson Salvador Feranil said Mindanao has yet to reach food sufficiency level because much of its produce are export-oriented products.
He said hunger has remained a problem in the country, though it has been banking on agriculture.
The December 2008 survey of the Social Weather Station found that 4.3 million Filipinos were in a state of involuntary hunger and that 1.43 million of these were in Mindanao.
After typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng hit the country late September and early October this year, leaving an estimated P30 billion damage to agriculture, infrastructure and properties, Feranil said he expects more Filipinos will go hungry.
Mindanao is expected to supply the country’s umption needs being the country’s food basket, but Feranil said most of Mindanao’s produce are export crops and not for local consumption.
Mindanao is contributing only 23 to 25 percent rice production to the overall national production.  “We have low average production of rice in Mindanao,”  Feranil said. “We need to have (higher) rice production.  What we have are crops going out of Mindanao.” [PIA 11]
Agricultural productivity of Mindanao has also been affected by armed encounters between government forces and rebel groups, displacing an estimated 250,000 individuals in affected areas. “We can only imagine its impact on food and agricultural production,” he said.
Feranil pointed to the need for more government funding to be spent for irrigation systems and fertilizers to boost the country’s agricultural production.
In summing up his presentation, Feranil suggested that politicians consider adopting policies on agriculture, and that farmers should say what they want politicians to do for them.
“It’s about time that our dealings (with politicians) should be like that,” he said.