THIS is a reaction to the PDI article titled “DA execs to help farmers sell rice to NFA” last September 1 and the Bicol Mail article titled “DA men told: Assist farmers sell rice to NFA” last September 4. For us farmers particularly in the Bicol region this is too little and too late because for so many years we have been trying to sell our rice harvest to the National Food Authority (NFA) but it has never followed its mandate to at least purchase 10%-15% of the total rice harvest in the country. In the Bicol region, it is just 1% of the total rice yield that is purchased by the NFA. We farmers who own land have to transport our own harvest then sell it in the main cities because NFA buyers do not go to our farms. Our main problem though is still landlessness. The total land area of Bicol is 1,763,249 hectares and 1,222,060 hectares of this is classified as alienable and disposable. Based on our study, there are at least 1,500,000 farmers and 1,856 landlords in the region. Farmers own an average of 2.24 hectares while landlords own an average of 60.24 hectares. More than a million farmers then do not have land to till. It is due to this fact that majority of us are forced to sell our harvest to landlords at low prices like P11.72- P16 instead of the so-called P17 NFA price because we are indebted to them and we will be evicted from the land when we sell to other buyers.

        This is the reason that while we farmers are the ones who plant and harvest rice, we do not have enough money to buy our own products. We just hope that Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap’s directive is not just meant to gain “pogi points” for his senatorial bid for the next elections. This should have been done years ago, why just now?

FELIX PAZ
Chairman
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Bikol
Brgy. Alcala, Daraga, Albay
kmpbikol@yahoo.com

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-- Editor