Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

MTRDP Is A Litany Of Aspirations

I was invited by the National Economic and Development Authority to attend a Public Consultation meeting on the Medium Term Regional Development Plan (MTRDP) for Region VI. The consultation was held in Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Training Center, Old Buswang, Kalibo on November 30.

The MTRDP covers the period 2010 – 2016 or the presidential term of President Noynoy Aquino in compliance with his "Social Contract" with the Pilipinos.

The MTRDP is composed of five chapters which are on tourism, modern agriculture, climate change, infra-structure, and human resource development.

Atty. Raul S. Anlocotan of the NEDA VI gave the overview of the proposed MTRDP. After which the participants were requested to read and study the proposal posted on the wall of the seminar hall which included the problems, objectives, and targets. Based on their study of the proposal, the participants were asked to give their comments.

Having more interest in farming, I spent more time in "modern agriculture". Reading the proposed six year agricultural plan is quite frustrating. It is consisted of litany of aspirations.

The mechanics of realizing the targets is absent. The modern agriculture plan is so traditional, off tangent of the farm and fisher folk family problems, aspirations, and vision.

The six year MTRDP will not alleviate poverty; it will only aggravate. For one thing, the goal in rice production is 80 cavans at 45 kilograms per sack or 3.4 metric tons per hectare per season. This is way below the 180 cavans or 8:1 metric tons production following the modern agriculture practices. Assuming farmer practices two croppings a year, he gets P68,000 gross while a farmer following recommended practices in farming gets 162,000 assuming a kilogram of palay is sold at P20 per kilogram.

After subtracting the cost of production, an 80 cavans farmer producer will live a miserable life considering the P20,000 monthly income requirement for a family of six to live a normal life.

The Need: Love and Loyalty To Country

Hearing the presentation, the planners for the MTRDP appeared to have forgotten that the most important factor of production is the human (man) factor. Money, machine, material, method, and moment will amount to nothing if man does not possess the most proper and fitting qualification to manage those production factors.
Asked if a representative from DepEd and CHED is represented in the committee that drafted the MTRDP, the answer is "NONE".

Why is it that Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia had over taken the Philippines in Agriculture even if their agriculture and fishery technologists study in the Philippines? This is a case of students who become more progressive than their professors.

I was told the Thais, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Malaysians are trained via their respective educational systems to love and be loyal to their countries.

They learned modern technological practices abroad like in the Philippines. The Philippines education seems to inculcate the love of money and to things done abroad. So that after graduation, what matters is how much one will earn regardless of method and the propensity to acquire material things. Other countries’ education system is geared to develop and produce graduates whose love and loyalty to country is unquestionable.

A loyal and loving person will never do wrong to his country like throwing garbage along the road or steal public fund.

The North Vietnamese won the war against the United States of America, the most powerful country of the world due to one weapon; the love and loyalty to country and her people.

The NEDA must devote more resources and energy on human infrastructure development to produce man endowed with capabilities to manage the economic affairs of the Philippines and save the people from the bondage of poverty. /MP