By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
Praying for our food security
I remember so well the days of abundance in the 50’s, the post war years. Bugas humay ug mais ginantang, isda tinuhog, karne nga baboy inambitay pa. You were exempted from this if you went to Tagbilaran where pork and beef were available everyday. Ang prutas gibaligya pinaagi sa tapok-tapok, ug ang isda tinuhog. Bago and Tangkong were sold at 5centavos per bugkos while kamates nga lomboyon ug uban pang mga otanon ug panakot gilatad ra sa sawog sa mercado.
This kind of scene you can no longer find in our market today. Everything is now per kilo and the price is makalilisang. I don’t know when prices shall have been back to the old amount. The price of fish in my younger days was very affordable and would only rise when the moon was bright up there in the sky. Mao kadto ang gitawag nila ug buwanon. That was the only variable in the pricing of fish.
Then came the Masagana programs and the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). CARP is giving land to the landless for riceland more than 3 hectares. Tenants are made to rent the land giving a certain percentage of the harvest to the landowners. In my grandmother’s time, there was a very close bond between tenants and landowners. The tenants always came to the house especially during important celebrations like piyesta ug pasko sa pagkatawo ni Jesus. Ang mga tinoboan igahin gyud para nila.
After CARP and Masagana, wala nay moabot nga humay ngadto sa tag-iya sa yuta. Nag-anam-anam gyud ug ka hilis ang bahin sa tag-iya sa yuta.
The young generation is not fond of the soil. The land titles given to their parents transferred hands and the young generation does not love the soil. And values have changed with new technologies.
Look at our production for rice. Putting additional fertilizer is not a guarantee for increase in production. A point is already reached where production costs are getting higher and higher. What with the costs of herbicide, fertilizer and seeds. What makes it sad is these inputs are mostly imported. This is the irony of the government program called the Masagana.
I hope our provincial government is serious about going back to organic farming. Unta tinod-on ang maong program
I find joy reading the program of my former student from the University of the Philippines Tacloban. She is Karina Santiago Tiopes, a regional head of tourism in Eastern Visayas. She has made a program of community farming integrating agriculture to tourism.
Bohol is a dream destination for tourists, but most of its people has not enjoyed the benefits of tourism. We must remember that a strong economy is an outcome of a strong agricultural base.
Yes, everyone is praying for food security.