NEGROS Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. urged young Negrenses to engage in agriculture because of its “huge potential.”
The governor said they should start young because “if they love agriculture, if they love farming, it will become a habit.”
He said young professionals prefer blue-collar jobs.
“They want to wear ties, to work in an air-conditioned office, and after their work, they go to bars to drink,” the governor said, adding that there are only “very few” young people who engage in agriculture.
“There is so much potential in agriculture, especially in the Philippine situation because the Philippines is an agricultural country,” he said.
The country, he said, has lots of endemic plants, animals, and resources and it’s “very easy to produce” in the Philippines.
He said the country lacks or is very deficient in terms of research and development.
Marañon said that five percent of the country’s gross national product should be spent for research.
The governor pointed out that the organic agriculture movement in the province continues to grow, adding it has an annual growth of 20 percent.
“The market for organic agriculture is huge. We can’t supply the market. The demand is huge, but the production is not enough to supply the market,” he said.
He said many farmers have converted to organic agriculture since 2005 although going organic is “highly labor intensive” and involves “tedious process,” which includes getting the certification.
“If we don’t have strict implementation on certification, it can be fake,” he said.
The four-day 12th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival held at the Capitol grounds in Bacolod City will culminate today.