New farming technologies may attract youth to farming– Bongbong Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday announced that the government intends to unveil cutting-edge farming technologies, seeking to entice younger generations into agriculture and lower the average farmer age bracket.

He said the plan was among the topics they discussed during the rice industry convergence meeting at the National Irrigation Administration, where they talked about new farming technologies which farmers could employ.

“Napag-usapan din natin, speaking of new technologies, is bringing down the average age of the Filipino farmer,” he said in an interview.

(We also talked about, speaking of new technologies, is bringing down the average age of the Filipino farmer.)

“And to do that, again we engage them with new technologies because they will be the ones who will operate those new technological systems. That will make it interesting for young people to come into the sector,” Marcos added.

The President did not elaborate on their proposed average age of farmers.

In a 2020 study by retired University of the Philippines anthropology professor Florencia Palis, the average of Filipino farmers is 53, which is up from 46 in 1996. It was also found that Filipino farmers have been working on the farm for 25 years.

Marcos said they also talked about the consolidation of farmers in a bid to increase crop production and digitalization to use farming data.

“We talked about the consolidation of the farmers dahil ang unang hakbang na kailangan nating gawin para magkaroon ng increased production at saka iba pang presyo ng produksyon ay kailangan mag-mechanize,” he said.

(We talked about the consolidation of the farmers because the first step needed to increase production and control the production price is to mechanize.)

“We are trying to consolidate the farms so that we can take full advantage of the economies of scale of the new technology,” Marcos added.

He said the government is aiming for 97% rice self-sufficiency and he wants all agencies to “converge” and also to tap the private sector and farmer cooperatives to achieve this.

“’Yung value chain ng agrikultura, mayroon namang mga elements ng value chain that are there. ‘Yun lamang, they’re not working together. So yun ang gusto nating gawin— na pag-converge na lahat ng ahensya ng pamahalaan and then to engage the private sector to come in, to partner with government, with cooperatives, with individual farmers,” the President said.

(Some of the elements of the value chain in agriculture are there, but they are not working together. So that’s what we want to do — to converge all government agencies and engage the private sector to come in, partner with the government, cooperatives, and individual farmers.)

“Lahat ng kakayahan natin not only the government but even the private sector, as individuals, is directed in the same way,” he added.

(All that we can do, not only in the government but even the private sector, as individuals, is directed in the same way.)

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JPV/abc