WHEN the Jalaur mega dam in Calinog, Iloilo becomes fully functional, it is expected to deliver the following:
* improve the lives of 25,000 farmers
* provide 17,000 jobs during its construction in the next three years
* double rice production to nearly 300,000 metric tons per year
* irrigate 32,000 hectares in 22 municipalities and two cities in Iloilo
* improve the average yield of farmlands to 5.2 metric tons per hectare
* provide 86,400 cubic meters of potable water daily
* generate 6.6 megawatts of hydroelectric power
It is good that the dam project is focused on a long-neglected sector – our agriculture. The grim growth data of the sector requires drastic steps from the government if it wants to lick poverty. Recent official figures showed that the industry hardly grew. If we look deeper into the contribution of the agriculture sector, it is dismaying to note that it had very little to add to the economic growth.
The situation should make us stop, think seriously and prepare to act with the larger picture in mind. Note that the agriculture sector has 28 percent of the country’s employed labor force as opposed to the sectors of services at 55.5 and industry at 16.5 percent.
Significantly, the agricultural sector accounts for 60 percent of the country’s poor. The government must understand sincerely that poverty is alarmingly and significantly felt by the agriculture sector.
We ask: Is the government underspending in the agriculture industry? Some quarters believe this is precisely the reason why economic growth impacts lightly on the agriculture sector, which is host to a big number of the country’s poor.
Among the major programs that the agriculture department must focus on are irrigation, farm-to-market roads, assorted fishery infrastructure, farm mechanization, support activities to boost rice production, and coconut production.
Unless, we grow meaningfully and substantially in the agricultural sector, the government’s programs on poverty alleviation will have a hard time taking off.
