(Continued from yesterday)
YEARS ago, in a roundtable discussion during the World Indigenous People’s Day, Dr. Roland Dy of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) talked about the success of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) in developing new agro-industrial estates in Malaysia. As I remember it, the FELDA approach was similar to the Bagong Lipunan Integrated Sites and Services (BLISS) approach during the Marcos era, but BLISS was discontinued when Martial Law ended.
Since then, the Philippine government has not introduced any other comprehensive agro-industrial estate development program, except perhaps some selective and isolated projects under the framework of the PEZA.
For whatever it may be worth, it may be a good idea to create economic zones within the agricultural lands covered by the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs).
Mr. Ramon Ignacio, a veteran of the BLISS approach, said that in Taiwan, the land reform system encouraged and paved the way for agro-fisheries production and intensification. He added that during the martial law years in Taiwan, one individual was allotted 2.5 hectares only. He said that that parcel could not be divided among the children, and only one child is given the chance to use the land.
He further said that it was not actually land ownership that was given, but the privilege to till or make use of the land for productive purposes.
If a parcel of land is not tilled or put into productive use, anybody could still apply to till the land, he added. He explained that that was the reason why, even small plots along the highways in Taiwan at that time were planted with all sorts of crops. Since they have only a small territory, almost all idle lands were put into use.
To maximize yields, the Taiwanese resorted to high-intensity production technologies (high yielding varieties), green houses, irrigation, aeration, fertilization, concrete fishponds, fish and aquatic fisheries among others, according to Mr. Ignacio.
There is actually a “Year of the Family Farm” that is being celebrated worldwide, but there seems to be no international convention that could govern the family farm idea globally.
Here in the Philippines, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) probably considers the family farm idea within the context of the CARP. A legal framework should be created in order to move forward with the family farm idea.
Let us refocus our agricultural policies towards strengthening the foundations of agriculture and farming. The concept of a family farm is inherently Pro- Filipino, socially, scientifically, economically and politically.
We have tried and failed in many agricultural programs because these did not consider Filipino values.
Our own family experience in losing our family farm in Compostela Valley is one case in point. It was unfair and unjust. Many productive farms have become uneconomical because of these flawed policies./PN
