PBBM: In Thailand during our APEC conference I met and told our Filipino community there that my priority is agriculture and my dream is to bring every OFW home to work in their native land, close to their families and loved ones. The problem is nobody seems to believe me.
KA MON: Yes Mr. President. How can they believe you?When you were in PhilRice to see the results of their technology derby among organic fertilizers and technology providers, my friend Jess Las Marias says that when he shook your hands and asked to see you about reducing the price of rice to your promised P 20 a kilo you just looked up then told him “let’s see about that.” It appears that you doubt the feasibility of a P 20/k rice now, especially with the price of urea shooting from P800 to P3,000 per bag.
PBBM: This is why I asked a government agency to study how we can import urea in its old price to be distributed free to farmers to reduce their production cost. What’s wrong with that?
KA MON: Everything Sir. First you will be killing the BIO-ORGANIC FERTILIZER INDUSTRY which proliferated creating entrepreneurs all over the country. The shortage of Urea was a blessing in disguise, to them who have been promoting a shift from destructive to regenerative agriculture through bio- organic fertilizers and arrest its progressive soil toxicity from chemical farming. NASA scientist predicts it is now irreversible in 2-5 years and this happens in your watch. With UREA you are killing our farmers slowly and destroying thousands of livelihood producing organic fertilizers. You are putting the last nail to the coffin of a dying industry (organic foliar fertilizers manufacturing with the Napoles scam involving our Senators) which is their only source of income. Additionally our rice and corn farmers who depend on their farms. The vegetable industry of Benguet shifted to using organic fertilizers and prevented their demise. Need I tell you more?
PBBM: If I will not do that, how else can we be self-sufficient during my watch to avert and be blamed for a food crisis. Remember as president, I must provide food for 110 million Filipinos while you, a farmer, is responsible to fee only your family?
KA MON: That and the 26 million who produce food and other food materials is your dilemma, Sir. If you ask me, you can start by declaring that in the interest of the people, the banks must now look at farmers as clients by helping the organize into corporations to avail of the trillions of pesos in Agril-Agra fund.This was a decree of your late father to finance food production, which Congress revised allowing banks to instead invest in T-bills so government is competing with the agriculture sector. (If this is not prostitution it is treason). Then allocate the additional P 100- B budget of the DA for 2023 to irrigate 100,000 hectares of rainfed farms and employ 100,000 farm-families and indirectly employ 500,000 people. We call them FOOD FARMS in the target communities. The P 100- B will then generate enough agri-waste to produce one megawatt for every 1,000 hectares module and as source of renewable energy and cheap fuel. At the same time, the P 100 B can produce enough rice to reduce importation. Even if organic farming may produce less, it will save your face and ensure the future of our children and future generations so we are SAVING our SOILS, SOCIETY AND OUR SOULS.
Let me mention, Sir, we also have a GREEN UREA technology if you give us the order instead of importing fossil- based UREA that kills our soils.