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CIVIL SOCIETY AND FARMERS PROPOSAL
Rationale
In fact, we find that the FIELDS program as it is currently laid down does not only pose mere band-aid solutions but still follow the same fundamental framework that drove the country to this crisis in the first place. Foremost of which is the program’s continuous dependence on hybrid rice varieties, putting all its stakes in only 7 hybrid varieties and placing the people’s staple food more prone to pest and disease epidemics especially that seasonal patterns and weather conditions have become increasingly erratic. At this juncture and given the volatile situation of food supply, we could no longer afford another cropping failure to happen.
Increasing the yield potential of rice through seeds intervention is not the only way to achieve rice self-sufficiency. Equally important rice production constraints are addressing the problems with pests and diseases; water management; fertilizer and soil management; and weeds.
Uncontrolled increase in fuel cost has affected the prices of fossil-based fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, adding up to the country’s heavy oil import bill. Furthermore, agriculture, including deforestation significantly contributes to climate change. Reducing or abstaining from use of fossil-based, high energy inputs will instantly reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint.
Rather than merely providing input subsidies such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, funds should be reallocated to finance public goods and services that enable and strengthen farmers, rural communities and local government units’ capacities to effectively and efficiently manage their own resources to address these constraints.
Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) collected the successful practices of sustainable rice production systems from different parts of the country. The farmers have proven these rice production technologies to be comparable if not better than the government-promoted chemical-based rice farming in terms of yield. The sustainable rice production practices were able to ensure the food security of the farmers’ households aside from the considerable benefit of lower cost of production and even higher income than they were getting before.
Some of the lessons gathered in the study are being proposed in the following recommendations with very high hopes that these will be given due consideration in the government’s self-sufficiency program, dubbed FIELDS program. Along this line, we also strongly propose that the Department of Agriculture conduct regular national assessment and reporting of FIELDS program implementation with the key stakeholders of the rice industry, foremost of these are the rice farmers and its partners in civil society groups.
Recommendations
1. Lay down a clear phase-out plan for seed subsidies and expound on strategies and approaches for the farmers to be able to secure their own seed requirements and other associated technologies that would lessen their dependence on external sources.
2. Strengthen the local government units’ extension support program for sustainable rice production systems.
a. Scale up KASALIKASAN and equip the LGUs’ extension agents with the capacity to conduct on-farm training for men and women farmers.
b. In cooperation with civil society and farmers groups already conducting training to farmers in certain areas, the Farmers’ Field School (FFS) methodology can be applied on the following specific concerns:
i. Participatory Plant Breeding and Participatory Varietal Selection ii. Inbred Rice Seed Production and Seed Storage iii. Water Management and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technology iv. Addressing Specific Pest Problems v. Integrated Soil Fertility Management vi. Post-harvest Technologies vii. Diversified and Integrated Farming Technology System viii. Processing of rice products ix. Marketing of organic rice and other by-products
c. Establish pilot/showcase of sustainable agriculture practitioners per province to encourage farmers in neighboring areas. The demo farms of NGOs and farmers groups on sustainable rice production systems may be tapped and given the needed support.
d. Develop an information hub that includes pool of resource persons, information materials, directory of groups implementing sustainable rice farming systems and other materials in the DA
3. Organizing of farmers associations and partnership with government and private sector
a. Organizing of men and women farmers in the barangay and municipal levels to facilitate their access to production, credit and marketing support;
b. Partnering with the Social Action Centers of CBCP, other civic groups and NGOS with track record on sustainable agriculture practice for technology promotion
4. Production and marketing support.
a. Support in the consolidation of raw materials for the production of organic fertilizer, particularly for the new practitioners of sustainable rice production systems. This could speed up the implementation of R.A. 9003 or Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Dumpsites can be closed immediately if biodegradables are converted into compost and distributed to farmers to augment the composting they will do in their own farms.
b. The ongoing initiatives of LGUs to develop the organic rice industry in Sorsogon; Negros Island; Valencia City, Bukidnon; Naujan, Oriental Mindoro and Rizal should be supported with input subsidies, marketing and good quality organic inbred seeds that the farmers can develop by themselves.
c. Provision of good, quality seeds including organic seeds for farmers starting to shift to sustainable rice production systems
d. Development of local inbred seeds program with strong participation of women farmers. Given enough capacity, farmers can increase rice yield by improving the seed quality through seed selection techniques and seed storage system, without radically changing their variety. Farmers-saved seeds are at par with registered/certified inbred seeds in terms of seed purity, germination and grain yield suggesting that farmers have intrinsic knowledge and skills in ensuring good quality seeds. 70 to 80 percent of the rice seed requirement of the country is supplied by farm-saved seeds which justifies the need to enhance the farmers’ capacity on local seed selection and storage to ensure seed quality. There are already existing models of programs in the provinces with women farmers contributing immensely in developing the local seeds program at different levels:
i. Bohol’s Provincial Agriculture Office in collaboration with civil society networks and local agriculture state college implemented a sustainable agriculture program since 2002. Part of the program is to ensure that the seeds grown by farmers are organically produced through the FFS.
ii. Similar program in Sultan Kudarat Province was implemented in support of the provincial government’s One-Town-One Product (OTOP) Program to produce organically-grown rice.
e. Encourage direct marketing of organic rice products from producers to consumers. Establish stores of organic products that are accessible to farmers, and provide good incentives to the producers.
5. Promotion of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as a parallel program suited to poor and even middle-income farmers whose yields are still relatively low. The hybrid rice program favors well-off farmers who have the capital to buy hybrid rice seeds. It is a rice farming practice/culture that involves early transplanting, wide spacing single plant/hill, intermittent irrigation and therefore less water use, three or four times weeding/cropping cycle, use of organic compost. It has been proven to double the yields on top of other environment-friendly attributes. SRI yields, at the very least, compare with national averages. SRI is not capital intensive and the labor requirements can be provided by the farmers themselves.
6. Address the technological problems of hybrid rice. PhilRice should focus on addressing the technological bottlenecks of the existing hybrid rice technology being promoted in the country. PhilRice and the GMA Rice Program should re-evaluate the susceptibility of current hybrid rice varieties to pests and diseases, it’s not being able to adapt well to diverse environmental conditions in several rice growing provinces, poor germination, labor cost inefficiency of hybrid rice seed production, and the genetic constraints of hybrid rice parentals. PhilRice should “perfect” the technology first before massively promoting it to farmers.
7. Research and development to build a ‘nationalist’ science of sustainable rice production, building on indigenous knowledge systems
a. Research on the technologies for climate change mitigation measures. The pre-breeding research should include screening and evaluation of rice accessions for saline-tolerant, drought-tolerant, pest-tolerant with nutritional quality, aromatic quality and adaptability standard. The thrust is to disseminate these materials under the local rice plant breeding programs.
b. Build on the scientific studies of farmers’ sustainable agriculture practices and their indigenous practices for soil, pest, water management and disseminate to other farmers through the LGUs, farmers organizations and civil society groups.
8. Credit support for sustainable agriculture farmers. Currently, very limited credit windows are available for sustainable rice producers. Financial assistance is particularly needed to produce and/or buy organic farm inputs and to finance labor requirements and crop diversification. The LGUs should facilitate credit support partnerships between the Land Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, and/or Philippine National Bank and women and men farmers’ cooperatives and associations. Women farmers were found to be bearing the burden of producing farm capital.
9. Crop insurance. Device ways by which sustainable rice practitioners/farmers can also access and avail of crop insurance in case of crop failures and loss due to typhoons and other natural disasters. Include in the crop insurance coverage the farmer-developed seeds, not only recommended or certified seeds, to encourage diversity, resulting to rice farms that are more resilient to climate change.
10. Infrastructure support
a. Restoration of water canals and water-impounding systems in irrigated areas and building of communal irrigation systems in non-irrigated areas, especially in areas where sustainable agriculture will be adopted.
b. Provision of rent-to-own farm and post-harvest equipment for farmers’ groups who are implementing sustainable rice production systems.
c. Establish organic fertilizer processing plants managed by farmers organizations
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