Farmers’ groups on Wednesday called on the five presidential candidates to create concrete action plans to uplift the agriculture sector.
Alyansa Agrikultura, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc., Coalition for Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan and the Agriculture Fisheries 2025 also challenged the five presidential aspirants to present their plans for the agriculture sector in a public forum.
“Agriculture is intimately connected to so many things-from the livelihoods of the 55 million Filipinos living in rural areas; to the food industry, which is the largest sector in manufacturing; and to peace in war-torn Mindanao,” CAMP chairman Emil Javier said in a news briefing in Quezon City.
“It’s high time that our presidential candidates offer actual plans that Filipinos can find hope in. We owe our farmers nothing less,” said Javier.
The five coalitions said the presidential debate in Cagayan de Oro had offered little of the much-needed clarity of the next administration’s plans to uplift the agriculture sector.
They said while each candidate acknowledged the crucial role of agriculture in national development, the time constraints of the presidential debate did not allow them to offer concrete, workable platforms for addressing the state of Philippine culture.
“Agriculture remains our most neglected sector, even as it employs millions of Filipinos across the country,” coalition convenor and Alyansa Agrikultura chairman Ernesto Ordoñez said.
“Millions of Filipino farmers go hungry each day, locked out from formal credit, set back by unfair trade, and unable to compete in an increasingly import-dependent economy,” Ordoñez said.
The five coalitions called on the presidential contenders to address the six priority areas in the agriculture sector.
These include making an effective Agriculture Department bureaucracy, stakeholder participation, agriculture extension, credit and insurance, agriculture global positioning and agriculture structural reform.
“Filipino farmers deserve better. While millions in the provinces continue to languish in poverty, our presidential contenders have not yet stated a true platform for making agriculture as productive and profitable as the country needs it to be,” said United Broiler Raisers Association president Elias Jose Inciong.
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