“We have to bring children into a new relationship to food that connects them to culture and agriculture.” – Alice Walters
In 2018, a local sugar summit was facilitated by the provincial government under the late Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. There were nine major challenges enumerated that the sugar industry faced. To this day, I believe most of these challenges still persist, in fact, some may have gotten worse.
PERSISTING CHALLENGES
To enumerate a few, these are: low farm productivity, low mill efficiency, supply shortage supply at the domestic end, high production input including labor, and labor force.
Highlighting the last one – it should be understood that this challenge is not only within the confines of the sugar industry but, around the entire Negros agriculture in general. Labor force is also a major pressing concern among other major crops and a pivotal player in the recovery of the province’s economy. Tagged as agricultural province, what percentage of youth comprises the Negros agriculture sector? It is important to understand the character and demographics that comprise it.
DEMOGRAHICS AND YOUTH TREND
According to the agriculture department, “the average age of Filipino farmers ranges from 55 to 59 years old. Experts predict the Philippines will face a critical shortage of farmers in 10 to 12 years. This threatens not only the plans for achieving rice self-sufficiency as a staple but also food security.” In Negros, next to sugarcane is rice as the major crop. The preceding prediction does not exempt us.
While there is no exact figure of the youth that are directly or indirectly involved in agriculture but what is certain – the labor force as a major challenge, it can be safely estimated that the youth comprises not more than 30%. In 2019, Western Visayas led all regions as far as the number of male farmers are concerned, which was at 685,000, with Negros topping the chart. It asserts that agriculture consistently plays a significant role in the Philippine economy with about 40 percent of Filipino workers contributing an average of 20 percent to the Gross Domestic Product.
Globally, the Heifer International in its published article in 2021 has quoted the United Nations that, “the global average age of farmer is 60 and, the world today hosts a massive population of 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 — and that number continues to rise. According to the United Nations, nearly 88% of them live in developing nations, particularly rural sub-Saharan Africa and South-Central and Southeast Asia, where agriculture is often the primary — or the only — source of income. And rural youth, as identified by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, already spent half or more of their working time farming.”
IMPACT
The youth today consider agriculture as unattractive undertaking around the world. It also re-asserts that agriculture still prevails as one of the major drivers of economy.
But what makes the youth distance from agriculture? Studies show that agriculture or farming is not a stable source of income for the new generation creating an inter-generational dilemma among parents as farmers where the main source of livelihood is farming. Additionally, the lack of financing, in-adequate skills on farming and techno-advancement is not fully utilized.
Worse, this technological advancement is attributed as the main reason why they lose interest in agriculture thus, their influx to urban centers. Instead of making use of the latest apps and other available platforms for farming and agricultural evolution they prefer BPO jobs.
Translating this at the local level, the ratio of farming versus call centers is exponential with the latter hitting sky high. For farmers as parents, most prefer that their children explore other opportunities other than farming. They claim farming as outdated that lacks facilities and equipment and highly labor-intensive with less income.
RE-ORIENTATION, RE-CREATING NEW MINDSET
This reality must be engaged in such a way that agriculture must be presented as an available, opportune and essential sector in strengthening local food systems, can provide gainful employment opportunities and, that it is the only way to ensure food security in view of the population rate and the worsening climate change impact.
A new mindset among youth must be recreated where it is appreciated, embraced and practiced. And, the major tool to do this is in itself – the technology. Our approach must go where their point of interest is.*
