Jobless Filipinos hit 12.1M

[niky]

Too fricking true.
Partially, blame poor infrastructure. It costs farmers more to get their food from the province to Manila than it costs importers to import grain and produce from overseas (shipping by the ton cheaper than shipping hundreds of kilos by inefficient jeep or, worse, by tricycle.)

But also blame crony capitalism (what the Marcoses did to industrial agriculture in their day) and the misguided CARP that the Cory administration implemented. Without large scale industrial agriculture, or at least allowing big enough plots of land for farmers to invest in mechanized agriculture, our agricultural sector is not going anywhere but backwards. CARP's maximum land size is 5 hectares. Which will earn you just 240,000 pesos... gross... a year. Of which over half will go to expenses, already.

CARP targeted any land over 7 hectares. Meaning that haciendas had to give up their land and let their machinery and mills go to waste. Those holding on to big pieces of land were no longer encouraged to develop them as farms... instead, it made more sense to re-zone them as residential. Which is another reason our breadbowl in the south is turning into a sea of subdivisions.

Stupid law. Meant well, but really, they should have kept the stock redistribution option. At the current size of farm plots, farmers can NOT sell low enough to match imported rice in terms of overall price.

[mina_nuka]

as long as people still eat, the farmer or food producer still has job security

[niky]

A farmer has to feed himself. And pay for his expenses.

As an example: Per kilo, a farmer sells rice for 11-12 pesos. Per hectare per growing season, a farmer can produce 4 tons (4,000 kilograms) during a high yield year... earning 48,000. But from this 48,000, the farmer pays some 26,000 for fertilizer, seeds and other expenses. (from an interview in a news item... average yield last year was actually just 3.5 tons per hectare... which is worse)

Which leaves just 22,000 for the farmer to live on for the rest of the year. Sure, the farmer has his own rice he can eat, but the family still needs protein (buying fish or raising chickens or pigs... which means setting aside part of the harvest for feed), still needs clean water and fuel for cooking, money for medicine, clothing and etcetera.

Say your family earns less than 2,000 a month this way. If you want to meet minimum wage in Manila, you need five hectares. Which is the maximum you can have under CARP. If you want a relatively middle class lifestyle, maybe 15-20 hectares... at which point, you can finally afford that tractor.

Go to Manila. Work as a parking boy. Boom. 4,000 pesos up front. I had a nice chat with a parking attendant one night who moonlighted as a habal-habal driver. He made enough money to feed five kids, pay off his motorcycle and put 4,000 in the bank every month.

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Sino pang magkakagustong maging mambubukid kung ganyan? Magtinda lang yung pamilya mo ng sampaguita sa kalye, mas malaki pang kita.

Nobody will want to be farmers unless its possible to get rich doing so. It won't be possible to get rich doing so unless you have enough land. And with the intricacies of CARP and the headaches it involves, it's sometimes easier to just sell the land to subdivision developers than to try to farm it.

[jick.cejoco]

the land reform act (RA 3844) of 1963:

The main provisions of the Agricultural Land Reform Code were:[4]
To establish and encourage the formation of family-sized farms as the basis for Philippine agriculture
To improve the lives of farmers by liberating them from harmful practices such as illegal interest rates
To encourage greater productivity and increase income of small farmers
To apply labor laws equally regardless of status
To provide a land settlement program and promote equitable distribution of land
To make poor farmers self-reliant, responsible citizens to strengthen society




the family sized farm as prescribed by the said land reform act was mainly designed for a small family for self reliance or self sustainment. with today's society, we have different needs. we now have cell phones, internet, we buy the water we drink at a price compared to the time this RA 3844 was enacted. it is about time to revisit this land reform act. the average filipino farmer family size has increased. the meager 7 hectares is not really a farm but an oversized garden. congress and the national food authority should brainstorm for a common goal. the intent of the land reform act was, at that time probably adequate but not today's standards. the philippines has changed into a more consumer country than a producer one. only the exported labor might be making money (service) and the money OFWs and relatives in foreign countries sending money back home has grown.

[Altis6453]

Low industrialization itself is also an effect of those ownership restrictions... which benefit no one but the oligarchs who get to demand a cut for fronting for foreign firms who want to invest here.

Of course, changing that would require cha-cha... which decades of fear-mongering over the return of Martial Law and term extensions ensure will NEVER happen.

People simply don't understand how detrimental the current Constitution is to economic development. There probably isn't a President brave enough to try to really change it.

Well, there's a VP (aka Nognog) who seems brave enough to attempt it (or say it because hindi pa siya presidente).

Source: Manilatimes.net
January 24, 2014

INSIDE CONGRESS
By: Efren Danao

In what was billed as “a working lunch” with columnists and the top honchos of The Manila Times at the Coconut Palace last Thursday, Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay admitted that he had always dreamt of becoming president but added that things might change and so he could not categorically say that he would run for the post in 2015. Still, he readily answered our questions about what he would do if he were elected president.
Binay said there’ll be an easing of tension with China even if the conflicting claims over the West Philippine Sea will be pursued. This is because he said he favors joint exploration of the contested areas, which is also the position of China, and the setting aside of questions of sovereignty.

Many nationalists want the country to stress its claim over the West Philippine Sea. President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd even said that Filipinos would be willing to defend their territory to the last drop of their blood. The stand of the Veep shows that there would be no such belligerency if he were in power. Why? Because despite the Mutual Defense Treaty, there’s no iron-clad guarantee that the United States would come to our succor if China invades us.

When asked how he could ensure that economic gains would trickle down to the masses, he answered that he’ll push for the amendment of the Constitution to allow foreigners to own more than a 40-percent equity in a corporation, including those engaged in mining. He also favors foreigners to own land. This would attract more foreign investments and the increased economic activity would create jobs and reduce unemployment.

more here...If Veep Jojo Binay becomes president? | The Manila Times Online

Does anyone really believe this? Oh, right. His voters in Makati seem to think so.

[cardict]

Well, there's a VP (aka Nognog) who seems brave enough to attempt it (or say it because hindi pa siya presidente).

Source: Manilatimes.net
January 24, 2014

INSIDE CONGRESS
By: Efren Danao

more here...If Veep Jojo Binay becomes president? | The Manila Times Online

Does anyone really believe this? Oh, right. His voters in Makati seem to think so.

It's because natural na mayaman ang makati courtesy ng mga zobel/Ayala ,na ipinamimigay naman ni veep jb to endear him to the makati residents ,nice move