A good friend and teacher once wrote: “Agriculture is culture. Culture is people”.
Davao region was alarmed recently by the inflow of fake rice in the market and subsequently with fake bihon. Concerns on food safety were raised.
The streets were filled with posters, streamers and red flags from more than ten thousand people who paid their tribute to Leoncio Pitao popularly known as Kumander Parago Sandoval or Tatay for the people of Paquibato District.
Presidential adviser on food security Francis Pangilinan is out of his mind in declaring rice importation as a “pro-poor move”.
Under the gloomy skies of June, our fields were filled with blood and terror. The rain pours like tears, bloody tears of injustice and traumatic experiences of our farmers and indigenous people in the countryside.
In a recently published article on a national circulation and in an interview with UPLB’s College of Agriculture Dean Dr. Domingo Angeles by a national radio-station, concerns on the dwindling number of Filipino farmers was raised.
For more than twenty years since the Philippines ratified its membership at the World Trade Organization (WTO) the already backward Philippine agricultural economy suffered more and more defeats.
We pay our highest respects to the fallen 44 and to the civilians who died at the Mamasapano bloodbath, as we call for accountability and justice from this government’s ineptness but ALL OUT WAR is NOT an option.
If Tito Manny is alive to this day, for sure he will be one of the advocates against aerial spraying in banana plantations for this endangers the lives of our people.
Our journey towards a sustainable agriculture remains to be a long and winding road as we are still confronted with landlessness and capitalist opportunism in the agriculture sector. Don’t get me wrong; despite its inadequacies and tendencies to favor the rich farmers and landlords, the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 is a milestone in our quest for a sustainable agriculture.
