(Explanatory note: It is a known fact that despite government claims that the average economic growth of 5.4 percent was posted from 2004 to 2006, poverty incidence in the Philippines still rose despite this economic indicator.  It may only be concluded that the benefits of a growing economy, in real terms, are not trickling down to the poor.   In a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), almost one in four Filipino families are experiencing hunger and this rate is the highest yet since the Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted surveys measuring it among Filipino households.  Malacañang has also conceded that the country is already experiencing tougher times, as reflected by this recent SWS survey. This cold reality, our countrymen’s lament mired in poverty, is further aggravated by the worst economic crisis now affecting the global community since the 20s. 

It is in this context, then, that the following conceptual paper was written last October, 2008 in response to a recent call to action from some of the alumni members, in search of tapping the vast resources of talents and skills from its alumni around the world, particularly from North America and the Philippines.  This is also the humble response of the Fraternity’s newly formed alumni chapter from British Columbia based in Vancouver, Canada, headed by Brod Vic Battad, Grand Princep, as the international brotherhood focuses on how best it can fill this need in the area of food production and sustained income-generation for the farmers through cooperatives. 

We, in Vancouver, also hope that this attempt from our chapter may provide the needed bridge for our less fortunate people across the current economic crisis that, despite the global economic downturn and other possible setbacks, will have a ripple effect in every community across the Philippines.   We therefore make this plea to our other concerned brothers (particularly those who can still exercise some influence in Philippine society) to help transform this into a more realizable goal, as a flagship project of the U.P. Sigma Fraternity International, in a concerted effort to boost this sector in our economic structure. – psajr)

The Art of the Possible?  Responding to the challenge

Background

Consider this scenario:  A lack of sufficient rice and other food supply is now unfolding into crisis proportions, among the country’s many other problems, in the Philippines.  In various parts of the country, it is now common knowledge that many poor Filipinos have barely enough to eat and are even lining up for rice, thus further stressing the urgency for collective action from civil society and rural development advocates as well as urge the national government to re-prioritize the agricultural sector and address the root causes of this food, particularly rice, crisis. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how effective the Philippine government's immediate response to the crisis will be.

The Global Economic Factor

The rice crisis have been fuelled by higher prices partly due to the global crunch in rice supply. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, rice stocks have dipped to their lowest level in 25 years. And various reasons have been blamed for the dwindling global supply and soaring of prices: increases in the cost of oil, transport and fertilizer; rice hoarding; climate change; and the high demand for bio-fuel stock that results in the shrinking of areas planted to rice.

Local experts say that the rice crisis is more than just a result of a global phenomenon. According to the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the International Rice Research Institute, failure to achieve rice self-sufficiency is due to the Philippines' geography and booming population. From 60 million in 1990, the country's population has increased to 90 million in 2008. National daily consumption has reached 33,000 metric tons, which is a 14 percent increase from two years ago. This amounts to a per capita consumption of as much as 134 kilos or only 2.7 sacks of rice per year!

The Philippines’ over-reliance on Rice Imports

To cover the deficit, rice importation has steadily increased from 0.7 million metric tons in 1997 to 1.8 million metric tons in 2007. This over-reliance on imports weakens the country's food security and makes it vulnerable to global supply fluctuations such as the one currently being experienced. Land use conversion of rice lands to residential and commercial uses has also been identified as a reason for the crisis. Over the past 20 years, the country has lost nearly half of its irrigated land to urban development. Many claim that at the heart of problem is government's neglect of agriculture over the past two decades and its incoherent food security policy.

What is in store henceforth?  The Transnational Corporations

What now awaits the country’s poor population in the face of continued government inadequacy in providing policy and attention initiatives to its agricultural sector, particularly in a now highly globalized economic environment?

From a food sufficient country in the early sixties, the Philippines has been transformed into a grains-deficit country, particularly in the last two decades as transnational corporations and big agribusinesses for export, took over the agricultural sector. This has been the result of the practice of contract growing where an arrangement in which an agriculture-based foreign company transfers farm production processes to local independent farmers or farmers’ groups. The foreign partner normally specifies which crop to plant, impose a standard quantity and quality and dictates the price of the crop.

Contract growing has been, and is now, widely practiced in large plantations, particularly in Mindanao and the Visayas. Local peasant groups like the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) criticize the practice for driving many farmers to bankruptcy and perpetuating unfair labor practices against agricultural workers.  And this situation is aggravated by the fact that until now, the biggest land parcels in the Philippines were owned and controlled by only less than 5% of the entire population, due to the dismal seven decades of land reform in the Philippines, starting under the American colonial government, and the stark failure of a truly comprehensive agrarian reform program. The consequence has been the agricultural sector’s certain erosion of their capacity to produce their own food.  And this is where the country is now.

THE BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY: its call to action

In a call to all Beta Sigma Fraternity Alumni for a purposeful involvement to these basic problems in these present times by some of its concerned members, this paper is meant to respond to that call from the Beta Sigma Fraternity Alumni Chapter of British Columbia, This is a conceptual scheme or blueprint, intended to lay the groundwork for future planning and stimulate further strategic thinking which the entire fraternity alumni can contribute to address the food supply problem in the country.

Key Considerations 1: Type of crops needed

Realizing that the country’s population growth has reduced the amount of arable land per person employed in agriculture from about one hectare during the 1950s to around 0.5 hectare in the early 1980s, we propose that one way to address the problem and ensure its growth in agricultural output should come largely from multicropping and increasing yields. Experience have shown that in 1988 double-cropping and intercropping resulted in 13.4 million hectares of harvested area, a total that was considerably greater than the area under cultivation. Palay (unhusked rice) and corn, the two cereals widely grown in the Philippines, accounted for about half of total crop area. Another 25 percent of the production area was taken up by coconuts, a major export earner. Sugarcane, pineapples, and Cavendish bananas (a dwarf variety) were also important earners of foreign exchange, although they accounted for a relatively small portion of cultivated area.  Other crops can also be grown such as vegetables and fruits to additionally help alleviate some of these economic woes of the underprivileged class.

Key Considerations II: Farmland availability: Lease arrangement

Under this blueprint,  availability of farmlands and its size is a significant indicator of how best we can use them to full productivity and where such concentration of these farmlands are to be found. Owners of such farmlands, particularly those which are idle or under utilized, are to be sought and determined as to their chances of being leased from the landowners for this specific purpose.  Likewise, method of farming to be used need to be determined and specified in an effort to maximize its productivity.

Key Considerations III: Organic Farming – Why

Farmers in the Philippines used to plant a large number of crops varieties and animal breeds on their farms. Crops and animals were produced primarily for food, animal feed, fuel, and medicine. In the 1970’s, the Philippine government introduced high yielding rice varieties/cultivars in trying to maximize productivity and profitability under the Masagana 99 program. Because of the genetic homogeneity, these rice cultivars grown became highly dependent on commercial fertilizers and vulnerable to pests and diseases which resulted to more usage of pesticides or insecticides. The traditional diversified agriculture ordinary farm households gave way to market oriented monoculture farming. This system enhanced erosion and loss of biodiversity in agriculture which is also known as agrobiodiversity.

The Green Revolution

The Green Revolution started in 1961 in the Philippines and brought with it serious economic, environmental and producers’ health issues onto rice farms as a result of the heavy use of chemical inputs.  The shift from such “conventional” farming to organic farming has therefore been encouraged by Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), several farmers’ cooperatives and several academic collaborators since 1986 based on two motivations – poverty alleviation for small farms, and improvement of the farm environment and producers’ health.  And since then, organic rice production in the Philippines has been growing rapidly, i. e., the area of production has been increasing dramatically.

Nationwide official statistics on organic farming situation are not available as of 2001.  However, one of the best available datasets which captures the current situation is the one collected by MASIPAG (Magsasaka at Sayantipiko Para Sa Ikauunlad ng Agham Pang-agrikultura) Foundation, which is an NGO leading the organic adoption movement.  According to their study, in 1999, there were 1,897 producers who had fully adopted organic farming under the guidance of the MASIPAG Foundation and 11,052 producers who partially adopted.

The corresponding areas covered by full and partial adoption were 1,754 and 15,411 hectares, respectively (MASIPAG, 2001). The adopters’ farms were distributed all over the country. CITEM, MASIPAG Foundation and several other NGOs working on the promotion of organic agriculture are collaborating very closely to develop the Organic Certification Program.

Key Considerations IV: Cooperative Farming

This is a system in which individual farmers pool their resources (excluding land) to buy commodities such as seeds and in other areas of activity.  A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperatives, which provide various services to their individually farming members; and agricultural production cooperatives, where production resources (land, machinery) are pooled and members farm jointly.  Or, especially in the case of rural Philippines, both services and resources are provided by donor countries through UN agencies such as FAO, and/or through private donor/lending organizations, academic supporters, and NGOs.  An example of a private donor/lending organization is RSWR (Right of Sharing World Resources), a program of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) supporting grassroots projects for economic development and offering educational materials for the study of the lives of the poor, the lives of the rich, and the spiritual meaning of both.  Below is one of their case project projects.

Projects In Asia: Agape Multi-Purpose Cooperative

PHILIPPINES - $5,350
Agriculture Project
Project Director - John Irving Ocol

43 people, 29 women and 14 men co-op members, from Manila are participating in this one-year project. Taguig Christian Fellowship is the 5th oldest Quaker church in the Philippines. Agape Multi Purpose Cooperative is one of the ministries run by Taguig Christian Fellowship. All members of the AMPC are Quakers.

This project is farming for current cooperative members. They can expect 5-7 harvests per year if there are a lot of typhoons, 8-10 in milder years. Each beneficiary is lent $55 to purchase tools and seeds. They can expect an income of $160 at harvest. Each participant is required to pay at least 20% of the total loan after harvest and $5.00 for monthly cooperative capital share. After a participant fully pays back all loans, he/she may request another loan. The money will serve as a revolving fund for the same group of people and is also available to everyone who would like to become a member of the cooperative.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Guidelines

Viewed from the foregoing observations, we propose the following guidelines on the next steps to pursue, serving as broad directions that should help define the basic framework for any present and future planning of this endeavour.

1.  Seek, determine, negotiate for, and secure lease arrangements of a farm property in   any part of the country as a possible demo farm whereby farmers in the selected area/s can be tapped to showcase the use of organic farming in rice, and other high value fruit trees (mango, durian, guava, rambutan, and lanzones) and mid-term high value crops like banana, pineapples, papaya, sugar cane, water melon, corn and even root crops.

2.  Emphasis should be on rural development since usually it is in the rural areas where the country’s poor live and are in most need of help.  SWS has also found out that hunger rates jumped to record-highs in Mindanao and Metro Manila. It also increased by nine points in Visayas while it barely changed in Metro Manila. Hunger rate in Balance Luzon was the same as that of the previous quarter. This will also contribute to helping make agriculture in their area/s more productive.

3. These are farmers who have no lands to tend in their respective areas, town or province and should be formed into farmers cooperatives, banded together as an agricultural cooperative to plant rice and other major crops for their own benefit -- thus addressing their need for food security  and others, as well, in the surrounding areas or villages.

4. Alongside with this agricultural cooperative, an agricultural marketing cooperative should also be set up which will be tasked to store, transport, process, and market rice, corn, etc. and other crops produced by its members.  Essentially, this will be a farmers cooperative business group, apart from the producers’ coop and whose sole function is to provide marketing services for rice, and other crops grown by its farmer-members. This marketing business group will receive, store, transport process and market such farm products by the farmers group.

5.  Cooperative farmer-members should be encouraged and challenged to produce consistently high-quality food products and avail of technical assistance and training from the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture and its agencies, and also from UN agencies such as FAO, which usually gives packages with all the necessary inputs and training and even farm implements.

6.  It is also important that every farmer in these cooperatives should be urged to use, and be convinced of, the advantages of utilizing bio tech products in their rice fields and other major crops to achieve the highest farm output as part of the concept of a "Sustainable Farm Management Systems."   The application of the organic fertilizer in demo farm/s proposed is with the view towards doubling or tripling the yield of rice and corn as compared to traditional farming using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. 

7.  Once the demo farm is proven to be successful along with its cooperative marketing tool, and after a series of executional refinements and adjustments,  the project can then expand to other areas similarly in need.

In Conclusion

As a footnote to all the above,  it would be most helpful, perhaps, to also reflect on the sense of urgency in all these strategic directions as the latest food poverty incidence worsened from 10.2 percent of the total number of families in 2003 to 11 percent, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) .

On an individual basis, 32.9 percent of the population, or 27.6 million Filipinos, were poor in 2006, the NSCB said. The figures showed a deterioration from the 30 percent and 23.8 million, respectively, recorded in 2003.

There were 12.2 million Filipinos -- equivalent to 14.6 percent of the population -- who were food poor in 2006, showing a deterioration from 10.8 million and 13.5 percent, respectively, in 2003.

And with the grim global economic forecasts for 2009, the days ahead for our less fortunate people, for sure, can be as bad or even worse than in recent years.  But the good news is that the Beta Sigma Fraternity is equipped, because of its time-honored values and traditions, with this community-consciousness to do its part in helping alleviate these food poverty problems as best it can. 

Finally, every good deed surrounds a story that is essentially wonderful and this, I hope, is still the story of our fraternity to this day . . .

                                                                               (Back ---> Current Features)