EDITORIAL
The worsening problem in food production
According to the PSA report for the month of July
2024, food shared 65.0 percent or 3.18 percentage points
to the overall inflation in July 2024 for the Province of
Bohol. Despite being a major rice producer in Central
Visayas, Bohol recorded the highest inflation rate for rice
with 86.1 percent share in food inflation.
In the Regional Development Plan for Central Visayas
– 2023 to 2028, NEDA disclosed that one of the challenges
that needs to be addressed is the declining manpower
sources in food production. Food production workers are
leaving their farms to engage in activities where they can
regularly earn income. The scarcity of agricultural workers
drives up food inflation furthermore as workers demand
higher wages for a day’s work.
Out-migration in agriculture, especially among young
and educated workers, has been confirmed in a study
conducted by NEDA in 2019. The study revealed that
agricultural workers substituted work in the farm for jobs
that do not necessarily pay high wages such as being a
habal-habal driver, salesperson, food attendant,
kasambahay, construction worker, among others. To these
workers, it is not the wages that matter most but it is the
relatively stable income stream, non-wages benefits, and
better working conditions.
How do we address this shortage of agricultural
workers?
NEDA’s Regional Development Plan does not provide a
clear answer. The closest is the social protection strategy
outlined in one paragraph. According to the Plan, social
protection is valued for the protection it provides to
individuals and societies in difficult circumstances, for
assistance in managing risks from adverse events, and for
support in accessing to economic opportunities. The Asian
Development Bank (ADB) defines the following as
components of social protection: labor market programs,
social insurance, social assistance and welfare services,
community level interventions, and child protection.
The social protection programs initiated by the
government do not show a ray of hope to agricultural
workers who simply want stability of income, non-wage
benefits, and better working conditions. It is sad that a
supposedly noble work of producing food for every Filipino
household has been viewed as a life sentence to be poor.
Cartoon By: Aaron Paul C. Caril