KA MON: After coming from the Davos World Economic Forum and the onion scandal, now is the time to accept the fact that we have an AGRI-FISHERY ECONOMY and other nations will always look at us as one. We have a central planning office (NEDA) that could not seem to comprehend that cartels or price manipulators control our economy as in the case of onions, garlic and even tomato.
First we have problems with supply of rice, then fish (which is ridiculous as we are surrounded by two oceans so no problem with fish supply), then sugar and now onions, which have become more expensive than pearls or diamonds ergo the joke of making real onion rings.
PBBM: Ka Mon, it looks like you’re blaming me for everything.
KA MON: No Sir. I am just telling you where the economic saboteurs are.
PBBM: Why? Do you want me to shoot them all? Remember we are in a free market economy.
KA MON: Precisely the point. This is where the government intervention comes in under your watch. For example, when the government sold the FTI to the Ayala for commercial buildings, the government did not replace the cold storage that was being used to store onions. Now why would an onion trader buy more from the onion farmers when he could not build or rent a space to store onions for the whole year. So, it was good when you started talking about cold chain facilities to be provided to farmers for their produce so they can enjoy better prices from onions instead of just the traders that monopolized the rental of the FTI facilities.
PBBM: OK let's have an ONION industry Summit. Meanwhile, tell me more of what DA should do.
KA MON: Sir, you must have the fortitude to save the livelihood of our farmers. You can start with an integrated farming system adopting a continuous planting strategy "to beat the weather." The program of Farm Consolidation proposed by Ka Sonny at the DA is now in place under AO 27 during former DA Sec. William Dar. This needs to be accelerated in coordination with DAR Secretary Estrella who has already allocated P10 billion for unused agrarian farms for this purpose. (Ka Sonny has already explained this strategy Sec. Estrella III before Christmas).
Now to beat the Climate Change, Ka Sonny was in Laur NE this week working on applied research for the continuous planting of onions in a 10- hectare area and to develop a protocol to reduce the cost of production through what he calls "Trench Farming" without the need for watering or drip irrigation this coming dry season with minimum tillage technology.
PBBM: Is this not supposed to be done by our experiment stations?
KA MON: Ka Sonny’s idea, Mr. President, is a crazy one (like when he experimented "Broadcast Seeding on Flooded Soils" which is now mostly done in the flooded Candaba swamp rice farms) and like all crazy ideas they are not funded by government unless you order it.
Mr. President, why don't you invite him to explain his crazy ideas about revolutionizing the countryside for our economic recovery. What we need is a strategy to increase the farmers’ purchasing power, so they’ll have money to patronize the restaurants that offer safe food without growth hormones and antibiotics of commercial farms for a healthy nation. Then more restaurants will be opened creating more jobs and buying more organic rice and onions direct from our farmers. For our economy to recover we must help the farmers to have the "purchasing power" not just the families of the OFWS. Doing so, would save our economy from perdition. Need I tell you more?