I am
reading Mara Cepeda’s Rappler news report, “Robredo To Give At Least P116 Billion For Agriculture If She Wins In 2022[1]” (29 Nov 2021):
If Vice President Leni Robredo becomes the next
Philippine President, she plans to allot at least P116 billion for agriculture on her first year, more than double…
what President Rodrigo Duterte’s government gave the pandemic-hit sector in
2021.
Repeat: “More than double” what PRRD has given to
Agriculture this year. Very Good! I say. But not good enough, as I will explain
in a little while.
To be fair, Leni does point out that the Department of
Agriculture (DA) had requested a total budget of P284.4 Billion for 2021; but what was approved was only P68.6 Billion, not even half of the
request. I say our legislators do not
give much value to PH Agriculture, while our Vice President is playing her
guts, coming from the boondocks, which she terms “laylayan ng lipunan” (fringes
of society). She sympathizes; she empathizes.
Leni’s Big Budget for DA will go into “funding more climate-resilient crops that
farmers can (grow) in their provinces.” As an agriculturist and a warrior
writer & blogger for climate change in the last 21 years, I say focusing on
“climate-resilient crops” is a very intelligent choice. I must say Leni has in
her team a good mind or two thinking agriculture for development!
Now then,
she talks about the distribution of that budget (from hereon, I am translating
her freely):
When we say it’s justified, where are the
opportunities? Which ones are the most resilient subsectors of agriculture? Where
there are those opportunities, we should give more, we must give bigger
allotments.
Now she’s
talking much sense! “Where are the opportunities?” Naturally, she equates the
opportunities with the climate-change resilient sectors of Agriculture. What
did school dropout-turned-billionaire-Virgin-Group-owner British Richard Branson say about solving
problems? “Don't See Obstacles, See Opportunities[2].”
We have not been giving more focus to budgeting
for the more climate-resilient crops, as far as agriculture is concerned.
Because we are always taking into consideration the per-province basis, what
are the climate conditions there? What are the types of soils there? What
should be the budget for the more climate-resilient crops, we must look into
that.
Ms Mara says,
“The Vice President then pointed out the need to fund more climate-friendly
crops (that) farmers can harvest (more from), depending on conditions in their
provinces.” Yes, Ma’am, your Total Agriculture budget must be farmer-friendly,
and the crops cultivated pocket-friendly!
Nonetheless,
as an agriculturist, I declare that even with that Agriculture Budget trebled to P348 Billion, I am not yet convinced to vote for her as President! Why?
First
& above all, I must know where she is coming from, what is her Vision for the whole Philippines – her
Guide for her Leadership, a near-future Philippines
we can all be excited about? A leader without Vision has only Ambition!@517
[1]https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/robredo-to-give-billions-agriculture-if-she-wins-2022-polls?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1zN5Ezc6RldxF8fsYpMRBAMOAKZzz7oN8jAYiJNU4KsSiR7bGQFVF-e-8#Echobox=1638158327
[2]https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-branson/richard-branson-business-advice_b_1931712.html
