The population of farmers for the past years is slowly decreasing. And this has been a prominent issue as it begins to lower down the number of food producers in the country. For everyone, agriculture seems to be a not-so-attractive avenue of employment. This is one reason why most youth chooses not to engage themselves in farming, thinking that it is a back-breaking occupation with unsatisfying wage to receive. With an aging population of farmers, an average of 57, it really needs great encouragement to attract the youth to go into agriculture.
“Based on our research and information from going around the country, they ask the children of the farmers if they want to go into farming. Unfortunately, most of them don’t want to. This is the reason why we are pushing, we are bringing back the technology so that they go back to their farms. This is among the details that we will be putting in the road map,” said Clint D. Hassan, information and communications technology director of the Department of Agriculture (DA), who was among the event’s speakers in the first of planned activities in engaging the youth into farming held in Davao City last August 2018. As stated, it may be as critical as it seems to accomplish such a plan when most of the youth, for a fact, see agriculture as a low kind of employment. And this is a global challenge; to engage youth into agriculture to give back the life it used to have.
With the objective of making the younger generation to venture and get themselves involved in agriculture have led the Agricultural Institutions like the Department of Agriculture to develop modern agricultural technologies that can be used by the youth. Considering the consistency of its development to promote agriculture to the youth, the said institution is continously developing modern agricultural technologies since it is no longer suitable for the youth to still use primitive farming methods. In addition, as stated last September 2018 from an article released by Rappler, “At present, Philippine agriculture and its workers face the challenges of climate change, apathy in agricultural issues, declining age of young farmers, lack of agricultural profit sustainability, food waste and many other issues.
Therein enters the solution that only the youth can make it feasible. Tapping the youth into realizations that the existing farmers cannot stay as our food producers any longer. Therefore, the young generation must help our agriculture sector cope with these problems. Modernization is now heading towards the present for the youth to connect and access into those developed machinery where it would not have to require them to use primitive methods of farming.
Youth is the hope of food security as they are labeled the reliance for the betterment of their countrymen. Empowering every individual to invest in agricultural benefits with the inclusiveness and efficiency to create opportunities and livelihood sustainability to farmers and other agri-entrepreneurs. It is, for a fact, a worthwhile enterprise for the farmers’ children. Every Filipino child must know that Agriculture is the food of all professions and it is no different from any of them. Youth must be and able to help Agriculture to be lifted up and will no longer be left behind as it also develops together with other employment.
The article was part of the Valedictory Speech of Ms. Gisselle Corpuz during the graduation ceremony of Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) this June 2019