Rural Farmers

The Philippines, like other developing countries in the Southeast Asia is primarily a farming, and fishing country. Huge plots of land cover the large islands that make up the archipelago. Among its neighbors, the country is one of the producers and consumers of rice. Alongside it, Philippine farmers also grow a variety of products such as corn, sugarcane, and tobacco.

Many farmers, who live in the country?s heartlands hundreds of miles away from major cities, do not have access to the kind of quality education received in these developed areas. While some do have the credentials of finishing a simple college degree, there are those who have failed to attend school altogether. Whether it be brought about by extreme poverty or otherwise, these farmers just skip school and to go out to the fields to feed a nation.

In many parts of the world, science has equipped farmers with the right knowledge to make the most out of their fields and their experience. They have used this information to produce as much food as possible while still maintaining high levels of quality and safety. But the Philippine farmer, mostly due to poverty, does not have access to such advancements. Many farmers still grow food the old way. It may have worked many years ago, but the nation is growing in population. Pressure is rising and tradition simply can't support the demand.

A tour around the numerous farms and fields around the country will show the apparent lack of technological advancements in agriculture. Instead of driving around in huge tractors, Filipino farmers rely on the age-old caribou to plow through their fields. Not only does this animal do much less work than a modern machine, but it also gets tired and moves a lot slower. During harvest, what can be done through machines is compromised with numerous hands from the family. Accompanied by a lack of knowledge in investment and prudence, many Filipino farmers are left with traditions of the past, while facing problems of the present and most probably the future.

Weather plays a vital role in the lives of these farmers. They're at the mercy of nature's bounty or victims of its vengeance. The El Ni? weather phenomenon recently hit the islands. This global pattern delivered a powerful blow to farmers everywhere. Crops ranging from rice to sugarcane suffered from the deficit of moisture and rain. Everything dried up, including the farmer's hopes for a decent harvest.

When the La Ni? (the opposite of El Ni?) arrived, it seemed to be a blessing for the crops when it brought with it the promise of abundant rains. Unfortunately, such event happened to be a double-edged sword. As much as water was flowing back, it also brought land slides and floods.

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo near Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Field (former bases of the US Armed Forces) buried the Pampanga's crops below 4 ft. of ash and debris. Precious topsoil disappeared, making farming futile. Towns were leveled to look like vast deserts and rivers were congested with volcanic rocks and sediments. This was just an example of Mother Nature's wrath man. Unfortunately, the poor had to suffer the most.

Corruption in the Philippines is an evil that affects everything in the country. Abuses such as absentee landlordism, monopolies, and the overboard export of Philippine crops continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It has forever tipped the scale between the elite and the masses.

Despite of all this, the success or failure of Philippine agriculture is relied on the farmer. He's the one who toils under the sun, scatters the seed and harvests the fruit. Empowered him with vital knowledge and equip him with modern tools, then he will in turn progress the industry and make it grow for the benefit of the nation.

Absentee Landlordism: The owner of a plot of land gets the lion's share of what the farmer?s harvest. The farmers actually get to keep only a relatively small portion of what they harvested.