|
There is no rice shortage in the Zamboanga Peninsula, but officials said the region is running short of agriculturists and rice farmers. Mayor Mary Ann Cartalla said this town, known as one of the major rice growers in Western Mindanao, was not lacking in the staple grain, "but we are losing more young people to courses like nursing and computer science." Cartalla said the population of rice planters here has drastically decreased as more and more youth are lured to work abroad as nurses, or in the cities as call center agents.
"Our rice planters and farmers are getting old without fresh replacement," Cartalla said. She said that of the 400 graduates of the Saint Joseph College and Mindanao State University Annex this year, only nine took up agriculture. "If this situation goes on for five to 10 years, we will definitely experience rice shortage because most of the ageing farmers -- and with their children working abroad -- will ultimately abandon their rice farms or sell these," Cartalla said. The town has two irrigation systems -- the Sibugay River Irrigation Dam System and the Dipili Irrigation Dam, servicing six lowland villages with about 30,000 hectares of rice farms. Bayog has 28 villages, all engaged in rice planting and production. Of the 28 villages, seven are lowland while the rest are into upland farming. In Zamboanga City, National Economic Development and Authority (NEDA) regional director Rafael Evangelista confirmed Cartalla's fear. Evangelista said mismatching courses to the existing economic situation is one cause why more students take up white collar courses instead of prioritizing the agricultural economy of the region. Zamboanga City produced a conservative figure of 3,000 graduates from Western Mindanao State University this year, but the city has four big universities with an estimated 8,000 new graduates, all of whom will compete for the limited job offers here. Evangelista added that universities and colleges are offering better options to students taking agricultural courses, "but we have so few interested applicants; more are into white collar jobs and we should be concerned on this aspect." NEDA’S quick assessment of various performance indicators of the region's economy showed it managed to sustain its growth in the last quarter of 2007, particularly in the production of basic agricultural commodities like rice and corn. Evangelista said rice and corn production went up 31.5 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively during this period. The palay production in Zamboanga Peninsula as recorded in the fourth quarter of 2007 increased by around 31.2 percent or 43,689 metric tons higher than the production in 2006. Evangelista said this was attributed to the increase in the area planted to rice and a rise in the yield per hectare both for irrigated and rain-fed areas. Zamboanga del Sur registered the highest increase in palay production, with 52.4 percent, followed by Zamboanga City with 47 percent, and Zamboanga del Norte with 14.4 percent. In Tagum City, Davao del Norte, agriculture officials said the province does not have a shortage of rice at present. But they warned if the conversion of rice lands to banana plantations continued, the province's supply of the staple will suffer and a food crisis will be imminent. The province's rice production has become insufficient but it is not yet alarming, said provincial agriculturist Dominador Encarnacion. Encarnacion said crop shifting practices in recent years have eaten up areas planted to rice and reduced production. He noted that even if farmers' yield per hectare has improved from less than 100 bags to over a hundred this year, the area planted to the crop has dropped from over 20,000 hectares two years ago to just 16,000 this year. "The effect of a rice shortage is not yet felt here since we are now still in harvest season. But once this is over and lean months arrive, supply will suffer and prices of the commodity will surely go up," Encarnacion said. The lean months are usually July and August, when farmers can not plant and the rainy season comes. Encarnacion said the increase of the province's population will also impact on the rice supply in the long run. He urged government officials to keep the province's population in check. According to data from the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, rice sufficiency in the province drastically declined as the population increased. In 2004, Davao del Norte's sufficiency ratio was at percent, with the province's population at 851,341. It stood at 101.90 percent in 2005, with the population dropping to 831,547. That year, the province's total production fell to 98,549.76 metric tons, down from 112,854 the previous year. Two years ago, the rice sufficiency ratio was further pushed down to 84.32 per cent as the province's population climbed to 884,468. And last year, the ratio plunged to 76.40 percent as the population reached 889,872. Encarnacion acknowledged that farmers cannot be prevented from converting their rice lands to banana plantations since there is no law prohibiting them from shifting crops. He said his office has sought the assistance of Governor Rodolfo del Rosario to facilitate their request for the Department of Agriculture national office to release more than P700 million in irrigation funds. The initial amount, the agriculture official said, will be used for the rehabilitation of the Saug River irrigation project in Asuncion and Carmen towns, which can help irrigate an additional 6,000 hectares.
 |
The News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
