Our friend Toto Barcelona of Harbest Agribusiness has a bright idea. Why not declare 2009 as the Year of the Farmers?

With the economic meltdown in many parts of the world, Barcelona believes that it is timely for the President to declare the Year of the Ox as the Year of the Farmers. Barcelona asserts that the "most stable industry now is food production and marketing as we have to feed the growing population.’

By declaring 2009 as the Year of the Farmers, the important role that our farmers play in feeding the nation will be put into the limelight for all Filipinos to recognize, according to Barcelona. Concrete plans and existing initiatives in food production will be enhanced. The aim is to have Filipinos producing for Filipinos, Filipinos feeding Filipinos, and eventually feeding our richer Asian neighbors.

Barcelona adds that SM Foundation’s battle cry of "People Helping People" seems to be the only stable and long term recourse to follow. What should be done is to harness the power of what highly productive Filipino farmers can do for their country instead of spending time, money and efforts on palliative measures.

Among the activities suggested by Barcelona in the Year of the Farmers include the recognition of outstanding Filipino farmers whose life is worth emulating by other Filipinos. This can be done on the grassroots level by the LGUs and NGOs. The mass media can be tapped to spread the good news about their successful agriventures. Their virtues, their hard work, their technology, their ideas, their management style that had contributed to their success can even be textbook materials for our youth to learn frm.

Another activity is to recognize Filipino agriculture scientists and organizations with outstanding contributions to the development of Philippine agriventures. These could include outstanding breeders, researchers, teachers, trainors and supporters. Financial support should be provided for sustained research initiatives and the dissemination of research outputs to farmers.

One project that could be undertaken during the Year of the Farmers is the production of a national directory of agricultural experts, research outputs of universities and research stations, suppliers of agricultural inputs, machineries and consultancy services, local and foreign sources of grants for agricultural research, training and professional degrees. This could be a good resource material for those in the industry and those who are planting to join.

During the Year of the Farmers, urban gardening could be promoted by utilizing vacant lots in urban areas for vegetable production. Home gardening techniques can be promoted in schools, communities, prisons, military camps and church congregations.

One more activity is to promote cooking classes in shopping malls, schools, barangay halls and even home visits to develop the necessary consciousness on healthy cooking, delicious meal preparation, and enhance vegetable and other local food consumption.

Another activity is the establishment of agricultural training centers for short term, high-value fruits and vegetable production in the provincial level. Barcelona says that this can be LGU initiatives to train farmers on practical, hands-on techniques. The farmers’ regular exposure to improved farming techniques will empower them to have more confidence in their own productivity, and hence, improve their income.

Barcelona also advocates the clustering of production units. Rationalize the distribution of irrigation water like the example of ‘Israel. The Philippine-Israel Council for Agricultural Technology based at the Central Luzon State University can be tapped to promote this.

There are other suggested activities during the Year of the Farmers. Barcelona said we should promote the full potential of the Philippines as a production base for food in the Asean region. Our country is centrally located, surrounded by advanced economies like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Foreign technologies and investments in food production — vegetables, fruits, meat, aquaculture — both fresh and processed, should be actively developed. We can produce and process the way they want their food prepared and not only promoting what we want to eat.