Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
WHY are the government's policy prescriptions aimed at guaranteeing food security for Filipinos either wrong or absolutely wrong? Raul Montemayor, who delivered the 2022 JV Ongpin Memorial Lecture in Business and Government at the Ateneo Professional Schools on Friday, October 21, was straightforward on the why. Farmers, the main cogs, the principal players, in that effort have always been left out in the determination of those policy approaches. Historically, the policies enacted, codified and implemented have all missed out the farmer-centric, farmer-focused policy imperatives that should drive and undergird successful food-security programs.
Instead of vesting farmers with the production wherewithal and tools to produce adequately for national needs at prices citizens can afford — the support they need — food-security policies always opt for the lazy policy of great folly — importation. Which is, in many ways, not only an easy way out but also a Hobson's choice. Cheap food stuff for consumers, with farmers as the sacrificial lambs. That cruel trade-off, also an unimaginative one at best, does not even work, according to Montemayor.
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)