The Government Should Give Priority To Agriculture-Zubiri
By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.
Maasin Citiy, Southern Leyte-Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, guest speaker to the recent 51th Founding Day anniversary of the province of Southern Leyte stressed that the present Government and the incoming Presidency must give priority to agriculture to stop the importation of rice and other agricultural products.
The Senator expressed his concern during a presscon held at the Governor’s office as he observed that the nation’s agricultural sector was left behind compared to its neighbors in Asia when it comes to rice production and other agricultural plant produce.
When it comes to budgeting, ours has a very low, he said, than the DSWD, DOTC,DND.”During my schooling at UP Los Baños, Laguna my classmates were Vietnamese, Thailanders, Cambodians and from Laos”, he confided.”And they apply and practice what they’ve learned at UP. Vietnam and Thailand are now rice producers and where we have been getting our rice imports”.
He divulged farmers in the above-mentioned countries were supported by their Governments and cheap cost of tractors, while in the Philippines the farmers cannot afford to buy tractors due to prohibitive price comparable to Mercedez-Benz.
Zubiri pointed out that the Aquino Administration should provide the necessary assistance needed for the farmers-from technical to financial- to improve their productivity yields.”With good monitoring and caring of rice plantations and other agricultural plants, we can gradually stop importing rice and other products from other countries”.
To the areas of Mindanao like Cotabato and other places with similar flooding problems, he said, floodwaters can be tamed by constructing catchment basins in various strategic areas that would lead the abundant water to the newly-constructed dams, thus providing the needed waters to supply hectares of rice fields and other farms.
For the Leyte Island, there’s the need now for the Aquino Administration to provide funds for the improvement of the regional airport in Tacloban City to make it into a standard international airport like Mactan, Iloilo and Silay City in Negros, he said.”The improvements of the Tacloban airport would boost the eco-tourism in region 8 including that of Southern Leyte”.
As for the suggestion of abolishing the NFA due to some alleged anomalies, Senator Zubiri said that we should give time to the new NFA Secretary “to re-configure and re-install it into one that’s really worthwhile and effective in helping the farmers improve their lot”.
A concerned observer claimed that the NFA has only done the importation of tons and tons of rice, but are not helping the farmers.
Furthermore, the Chairman on Environment and Agriculture, also underscored that the incumbent President should make a long term plan for the development of the national infrastructures and agriculture and to alleviate, if not to eradicate, poverty.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)
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