The Philippines, with a land area of 30-million hectares, a more than ideal rainfall, a coastline of 36,000 kilometers and a 12-hour sunlight, has all what is needed to feed its own people and even become a major food producer in the world.
Our problem is that the people who chart the development directions and priorities of our country do not realize this or, even if they do, refuse to recognize the vast resources and great potentials of the Philippines.
I even have this feeling that they do not really understand agriculture at all, so I will write a series of articles on the vast resources of our country and the potentials of becoming a major food producer.
There are three basic elements in growing plants and nurturing these to bloom and be productive – land, sunlight and water.
We need land to serve as the anchor of your plants and while there are modern technologies such as hydroponics, the production would not be as much as those planted in vast areas.
We need sunlight for photosynthesis, otherwise our plants would not be productive.
We need water because there is no agriculture without water.
Do we have all of these three basic elements? Yes.
Our total land area is 30-million hectares about 1/3 of which could be used to grow crops.
We are a tropical country with an excellent 12-hour daylight and a temperature of between 25 to 40 degrees Celsius, depending on the area and season.
Water is a blessing for our country. Or a curse if we do not manage it very well.
Ngayon, binabaha ang Northern Luzon but when the dry season starts, our farmers will complain that they do not have enough water.
So, if we would like to boost our land-based agricultural production, we should focus first on the most important element – water.
Our rainfall is between 3,000 to 4,000-mm and that is a lot as compared to Israel’s 360-mm which means that we are literally awash with water.
Ang problema natin ay Water Management and Conservation.
Kung tag-ulan at panahon ng bagyo, binabaha tayo at uma-agos lang sa dagat ang sobrang tubig. Subali’t pagkatapos ng isang buwang walang ulan, nangangamatay na ang ating mga tanim.
So, kung gusto nating umunlad ang land-based agriculture, tubing ang dapat nating tutukan.
Una, dapat harapin natin ang malaking banta sa ating sufficient water supply at ito ay ang pagkakalbo ng ating kagubatan.
Only 6% of the total forest cover of the Philippines in the 1900 had been left because of endless cutting of trees and the failure of our government to plant trees.
Pangalawa, dapat matuto tayong mag-manage ng ating water resources sa pamamagitan ng paggawa ng mga catchment basins, small water impounding areas and mini-dams.
Noong mayor ako ng M’lang in 1995 to 1998, marami akong ipinagawang Small Water Impounding Projects sa mga sapa na natutuyuan kung tag-init.
Hanggang ngayon, nagagamit pa ng mga magsasaka ng M’lang ang mga ipinagawa ko na SWIPs na ginamit din nilang mga fishponds ng Tilapia at Hito.
Pangatlo at pinakamahalaga, dapat mag-invest ang ating gobyerno sa irrigation systems sapagka’t ito ang pinakamahalaga sa agrikultura.
We are very poor in implementing irrigation systems. In fact, of the 4.8-million hectares of harvested area for rice, only 1.6-million hectares are served by irrigation systems.
This huge backlog in irrigation services in the rice production areas is the main reason why we could not achieve rice sufficiency.
Without water, there is no food production to talk about.
Hindi na kailangan ng mga malalaking irrigation systems sapagka’t marami ng mga modern technology on Solar-Powered Irrigation System, Windmill-Powered Irrigation and Ram Pumps.
This would not be difficult to do if we have established the water catchments, SWIPs and small dams.
To do this, however, we need policy directions to be established through legislation which would create the National Water Management and Conservation Program.
This program should be sufficiently funded and supported by the different agencies of government.
This is the first step in boosting our agriculture in the Philippines
#FoodGrowsWhereWaterFlows!
#NoWaterNoAgriculture!
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