Good day everyone, I am Princess Ronia Danganan under BS Agriculture, first year college

section 3 in University of Rizal System. For today’s topic, we are going to talk about the
importance of agricultural extension and assisting our small farmers. So firstly, what is
agricultural extension, Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new
knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education.

The reason why we should assist our own small farmers in the Philippines is because as we all
notice, all the agriculturists that studied in our own country flew to different states because they
know that agriculture doesn’t have any future here in their homeland. Or in other words, migrate.
Based on the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA, In 2020, the number of
employed persons in the agriculture sector was 9.75 million persons or 4.6 percent higher than
the 9.33 million persons posted in 2019. Consequently, the sector indicated a higher share of
24.8 percent in the country’s total employment.

In conclusion, the number of employed people in Agriculture went downhill as 2019 came but it
somehow improved in 2020 with a proportion of 24.8. But with those numbers, our small farmers
are still suffering and experiencing a crisis, especially in our situation right now. Other than
typhoons that are occurring and affecting their crops, we are in the midst of a pandemic which
worsens the situation for the government to neglect our own Filipino farmers.

Furthermore, according to Baclig, C. article by

Inquirer.Net, noted that “Agriculture and
fisheries sector, according to the group of
agri-fisheries organizations, accounted for 30
percent of the country’s labor force.” The article
also noted that “Out of 44.23 million employed
persons in August, 25.1 percent were from the
agriculture sector based on the August 2021
Labor Force Survey (LFS) by the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA). It also reported that the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors had a
10.2 percent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 according to
the Agricultural Indicators System (AIS) report released in June.”
Moreover, it also affects them and is barely surviving since it weakens agriculture, logistical
breakdowns, aimless import liberalization, and poor distribution of amelioration assistance to the
rural masses which means accommodating them is desperately needed.

In essence, the sector generated a gross value

added (GVA) of about 1.78 trillion Philippine pesos,
equivalent to a 10.2 percent share of the country’s
gross domestic product (GDP). Yet, because of
prolonged lockdown imposed due to the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, along with the
natural calamities that occurred in the country, the
sector’s gross output contracted by 1.2 percent in that
year.

That's why we agricultural extensionists exist to help the productivity, boost, and promote
agriculture, increasing food security, and improving rural livelihood to help our countrys'
economic growth and our own industrious small farmers. Additionally, support our very own rural
producers and introduce them with new ideas to enhance and better transformation for the
global food and agricultural system. Including the rise of supermarkets and the growing
significance standards, labels and food safety; growth in nonfarm rural areas and agribusiness.
Together with building a food self-sufficient in our own country, Philippines.

Sadly, according to Ocampo, K. article by Inquirer.Net, he noted that “The ability of the country
to produce its basic agricultural commodities weakened in 2018, depending instead on imports
to cover the supply shortfall for major crops, vegetables and meat, a government study
showed.” The countrys' self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) was down by an average of 2.96 percent
while its import dependency ratio (IDR) climbed by an average of 22 percent based on PSA
published a report titled “Food Sufficiency and Security,” indicating self-sufficiency and import
dependency for 32 agricultural products.”

Our country was only self-sufficient when it came to: coconut, sugarcane, calamansi, papaya,
pomelo, tomato, cabbage, eggplant, cassava and sweet potato. Based on SSR which shows
how much of domestic consumption is supplied by our local production while IDR specifies how
much local demand is covered by imports.

Moreover, according to Guzman, R. article by IBON, it stated “government has erased “food
self-sufficiency” from its agricultural planning principles, now totally unheard of in the Philippine
Development Plan 2017-2022. It has instead focused on “economic opportunities” anchored on
“market orientation”. The country’s lack of food self-sufficiency has made the government's
coping with crises such as COVID-19 utterly chaotic. It is the economy’s sinkhole that will make
us fall deeper into a COVID-aggravated economic crisis.”
 With this statement, we people should be alarmed. It also stated “Only eight weeks ago,
the country’s “normal” agriculture was having its worst crisis in decades. The sector lost 1.4
million jobs in 2017-2019, the highest number in a three-year period in the last two decades.”
This is only during Pre-Covid Crisis, the average annual growth rate of 2.1% in the same period
is also lower than the 3.5% average in the last 70 years. The sector has also reached its
smallest share in history at just 7.8% of the country’s gross domestic product. But then,
Covid-19 happened. It caused the government to buffer when it comes to our food stock, even
the PSA has stopped updating the rice inventory. On March 1, it showed that our rice stocks
would only be enough for 65 days.

The government somehow provided help to our farmers by providing Php 5,000 cash assistance
each to only 591,246 beneficiaries under the Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF). But as
of April 28 2020, seven weeks into the lockdown, the Duterte government has served only
266,284 rice farmers. But it's not enough because the moment they receive that money, it will be
only used for their growling stomach; With that, it only increases poverty and hunger which
causes more crisis in our situation. Until the media promoted urban and backyard gardening,
which is overly focusing on individual consumers to go on survival mode instead of improving
the production and conditions of farming communities in the real spirit of bayanihan.

In addition, from this article, it stated “The RFFA targets to provide Php5,000 to rice farmers who
are tilling 0.5-2 hectares. The FSRF is in addition to RFFA and is packaged as the COVID-19
response, which targets rice farmers who are tilling one hectare and below. The total target
beneficiaries of both packages are 1.2 million rice farmers nationwide, but there are 2.5 million
rice farmers in the country who are definitely dislocated by rice liberalization.”

From these statements and scenarios, we can’t always rely on the government because the
help they’re giving isn't even enough for everyone, especially the rural areas that aren’t
reachable with low-productivity. Even though our country contains quality seeds, inputs, and
modern technologies to improve and sustain their productivity, it's not affordable for everyone or
may put our farmers in debt. That’s why we agricultural extensionists exist to provide education
and services for our local farmers to help them get up even though it's considered a small step
in this poor-industry. If we help one another and take a risk to guide and cooperate with these
people, there’s a chance to move forward for sustainable farming practices.

Food self-sufficiency can be only effective if we will have sufficient assistance for their daily
needs and health services and as a production support. We can only achieve this if we people,
not only the government, help our farmers genuinely if we will assert an entire change for our
farmers.
REFERENCE:

https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/%28ons-cleared%29_FO%207_Employment%20and%20W
ages%20ao%20ONS-21122021_ONSF-signed.pdf

Baclig, C. E. (2021, October 28). Pandemic worsens Gov't neglect of PH agriculture .

INQUIRER.net. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1507264/pandemic-worsens-govt-neglect-of-ph-agriculture

Guzman, R. (2020, November 24). Why can't food self-sufficiency be our new normal? IBON
Foundation. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from
https://www.ibon.org/why-cant-food-self-sufficiency-be-our-new-normal/

Ocampo, K. R. (2019, December 3). Self-sufficiency in farm products declining. INQUIRER.net.

Retrieved March 18, 2022, from
https://business.inquirer.net/284641/self-sufficiency-in-farm-products-declining