|
THE
CONTINUING crisis over soaring food prices and imperiled
crop yields because of extreme weather and increasingly
costly inputs may soon—observers said—transform the
condescending remark “go plant camote in the barrio”
into a gem of wisdom.
Well,
that has come to pass. Just Wednesday Secretary Domingo
Panganiban of the National Antipoverty Commission (NAPC)
said the price and supply situation of basic commodities
in the past three months calls for the massive
cultivation of idle land—and he recommends the lowly
camote.
Camote,
or sweet potato, had been found by researchers abroad to
be rich in nutrients, and the only proof needed by
Filipinos is the experience of their parents during
World War II, when many subsisted on camote and were
never the worse for wear.
According to Panganiban, farmers should now therefore
grab the economic opportunity offered by the current
food crisis to go back to their hometowns and farms to
start planting camote and other crops to supply the
needs of urban areas like Metro Manila where food costs
continue to rise.
By going
back to the province and tilling land again, he said the
balik provincianos may even become agribusiness
entrepreneurs if they play their cards right, what with
agri loans from government there for the asking,
especially through the Development Bank of the
Philippines.
They
will also significantly contribute to making the country
self-sufficient in food, thus enhancing their fellow
Filipinos’ food security and, perhaps, even helping
reduce poverty in the countryside. It has been found by
his office that there are an estimated 1.7 million
family living below the poverty threshold, earning less
than $1 a day (P43.00).
Panganiban said most of those who migrated to Metro
Manila have farms and while the rest may not have, they
could lease farms, as an enterprising Korean has done in
Zambales; his agribusiness is now worth at least P10
million. He had also enlisted neighbor farmers to
produce for his company.
He
wondered why Filipinos can’t do that in their own
country. He thus urged these “urban expats” to strike
while the iron is hot. “This is the best time for those
who left their farm to go back to agriculture.”
Panganiban, a former Agriculture secretary, said
planting root crops like camote, and vegetables like
kangkong, sitaw, talong, ampalaya and horse radish or
malunggay will allow farmers to earn more than what most
minimum-wage earners get, without the expense of daily
commute to poor-paying jobs in the urban areas. |
