AMID a warning raised by the International Labor Organization that “recession and massive job loss will sweep across the globe and spark social unrest,” administration Sen. Francis Pangilinan pressed the Aquino administration to focus on job creation in the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector to spare the Philippines from looming threats of a global economic downturn.

Pangilinan, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, pointed out that the Philippines had been fortunate to have been spared from the effects of global recession in the past few year.

But he warned that “this time, we have to be ahead of the curve, so to speak.” In a statement, the senator suggested that the government must “focus on generating more jobs within the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector. This sector has been neglected and taken for granted for far too long, which is unfortunate as the sector holds the key to boosting the Philippine economy.”

Pangilinan added that while the BPO sector has provided Filipinos employment opportunities, “the country must look for long-term and sustainable solutions in addressing social inequities and unemployment.”

 According to him, “over 66 percent of our labor force is directly and indirectly employed by the agriculture and fisheries sector. With nearly half of our GDP [gross domestic product] coming from agriculture, fisheries and agribusiness enterprises, we cannot continue to ignore the agriculture and fisheries sector and keep our rural population poor.”

He argued that by modernizing the agriculture and fisheries sector and increasing the incomes of nearly half the nation’s population who live in the rural areas, “the multiplier effect on the economy will be stupendous.”

“When the rural folks’ incomes increase there will be a corresponding increase in demand for goods and services,” Pangilinan explained. “Banks will have more clients.  Car manufacturers will have to increase their output to meet the demands of increased spending capacity of the rural folk. Home appliance stores, manufacturers and all other consumer products will see a huge jump in their sales and in production to meet half the country’s spending habits transformed by a robust agriculture and agribusiness economy.”

He, however, cautioned that in spite of these projections, focusing on the agricultural sector will not be an easy task, as Filipinos have a lowly perception of the sector.

“Our collective mindset sees agriculture as demeaning and dirty, and best left to the poor farmer or fisherfolk. This paradigm has kept us from progressing economically,” the senator said. “The multiplier effect of raising the incomes of our agriculture and fisheries workers numbering nearly 70 percent would lift the economy tremendously, as the sector will attract more investors, generate more jobs, and ensure that our farmers—now aging considerably as their average age is 57 years old—will have succession.”

He added, “all these can help turn our economy around and save us from the massive effects of a global recession.

Pangilinan asserted that the rest of the world is “already beefing up efforts to provide jobs and job security for their own citizens. By making wise investments and policy reforms in the agriculture, agribusiness, and fisheries sectors, we can generate the jobs that our people need to be able to make a good living at home and be spared the effects of financial crises in other parts of the world.

This developed as Pangilinan also moved for an “overhaul” of the present system regarding agricultural extension workers, saying this, too, is needed in order to build global competitiveness.

The senator aired the suggestion in the wake of statements made by an official of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan who cited the Philippines’s system for agriculture extension workers as “a major stumbling block” in getting foreign investments.

Pangilinan recalled news reports quoting Yasunori Araki, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, saying that the Philippines had a “very poor government [agriculture] extension system,” pointing out that only private firms had good extension workers.  Araki further observed that Filipino agriculture extension workers are “not so competent” and “take too much time” compared to agriculture extension workers from Thailand and Vietnam.

“We can explore different options in making these drastic and urgent reforms,” Pangilinan points out. “One is to review our current agricultural extension policy and institutionalize programs for agriculture and fisheries extension workers; another would be to work closely with the private sector for capacity-building that is at par with private and global standards. We will exhaust all options and look at the best possible solutions to this decades-old challenge.”

He added that “while we acknowledge Mr. Araki’s observations about the need to build and strengthen the capacity of our agriculture and fisheries extension workers and of the policy itself, we also commit to turning this situation around as efficiently and as effectively as possible so that we aren’t discounted out of the race by our investor-neighbors. Matagal na naman po nating sinasabi na, kung hindi tayo kikilos para sa ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda ay maiiwan talaga tayo sa kangkungan. This statement from the Japanese government is a harsh wake-up call, but we needed to hear it.

“We have long said that gthe overnment needs to invest more in the agriculture and fisheries sector if it is to turn this nation around. We are an agricultural country, first and foremost, and if we want to achieve developed-nation status in 15 years, we will need to make radical changes in the agricultural sector to ensure food security for ourselves and the region. Instead of being a top importer of agricultural staples, we should turn the situation around to be one of the top exporters in the region, if not in the world,” Pangilinan challenges.