‘Farmers should be entrepreneurs’

Friday, June 10, 2011

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is proposing that farmers should be taught to also act as entrepreneurs so they could effectively manage their own source of income and do away with middlemen.

The DA yesterday reiterated that farmers should be taught how to be managers and how to organize their own production and marketing to become business persons. “Farmers must know how to execute modern technology and be trained on how to market the products after harvesting their produce.”

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This, as the Department of Budget and Management last week reported the release of P3.430 billion to the DA to support farmers in increasing their yields “in line with the government’s social contract commitment to reduce poverty and ensure rapid, inclusive and sustained economic growth, especially for those living in the countryside.”

Of this fund allocation for the DA’s national rice program, the agency’s Regional Field Unit in Western Visayas was allotted P110 million so that farmers could be provided with quality seeds, irrigation, credit and marketing assistance to improve farm productivity and profitability.

“While the 4.1 percent first quarter growth may indicate a lower than the targeted 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent growth for the agricultural sector for the entire 2011, we project even higher growth for the next two quarters that will put us on target since the programs and interventions show results in terms of still higher output and production,” DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said.

The DA projected growth rate in terms of palay production for the second quarter and 30 percent increase for the third quarter were “all due to timely interventions that include repair and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities nationwide and promotion of good quality palay seeds.” (CGC)