8 out of 10
Filipinos will go for Pres’l bet with food and agriculture in platform
By GREENPEACE
January 11, 2016
QUEZON CITY – Nearly
eight out of 10, or 76% of 1200 respondents will vote for candidates
whose platforms include ensuring food sufficiency and addressing
farmers’ needs, reveals results from the Social Weather Station (SWS)
2015 3rd Quarter Social Weather Survey, in the items commissioned by
environmental group Greenpeace Philippines.
The nationwide survey,
conducted from September 2-5, 2015, also showed that 75% of the
respondents prefer presidential candidates who will ensure that food
needs are met and 70% would support candidates who will promote
environment-friendly farming.
Moreover, 44% of the survey
respondents entreated the government to focus on financial support to
farmers to make farming climate resilient while 39% expressed support
for ecological agriculture such as organic farming.
“Agriculture, specifically
Ecological Agriculture, has taken a back seat in terms of government
prioritization. We have the Organic Agriculture Act but actual
implementation and government support has to improve tremendously. Our
presidential candidates should take these survey results seriously, as
these show how concerned Filipinos are with our current food and
agriculture systems,” said Vigie Benosa-Llorin, Food and Ecological
Agriculture Campaigner, Greenpeace Philippines.
Ecological Agriculture,
which includes organic farming, is a climate resilient farming system
that will address the issue of food security concerns. It is a farming
system that combines modern science and innovation with respect for
nature and biodiversity, and ensures healthy farming and food
production while protecting the soil, water and the climate.
Ecological agriculture does not contaminate the environment with
chemical inputs or use genetically engineered crops.
“We challenge our
Presidential candidates to clearly state how he/she will support the
farmers, address issues on food sufficiency, and make farming climate
resilient and environment-friendly. While each candidate may have
their own lines about agriculture, the voters are looking and
demanding for more than mere rhetoric, but rather real programs and
policies towards safe, healthy and sustainable food and agriculture
systems that respond to the continuing plight of Filipino farmers, the
majority of whom continue to reel from mass poverty, hunger and
destitution,” added Benosa-Llorin.
On the other hand, Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) laments the poor state of agriculture in
the Philippines, and calls on the government to stop supporting
chemical-based and corporate agriculture and instead develop policies
that will help farmers through the promotion of Ecological
Agriculture.
"In recent decades, the
promotion of agricultural liberalization and corporatization has also
intensified the condition where toxic chemicals and engineered
organisms bear down on the Filipino farmers and consumers and their
efforts to promote socially-desirable practices including organic,
sustainable and ecological agriculture,” said Rafael Mariano of
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. “In fact, the Philippine government
has generally negated the objectives of sustainable and ecological
agriculture as it continues to promote an overall policy of chemical
farming that is founded on rural monopolies in land, income, wealth
and power."
In a landmark decision from
the Supreme Court released last December 2015, the high court barred
the field testing of Bt eggplant and placed a temporary ban on the
development of genetically modified organisms (GMO)s. Greenpeace sees
this an opportune time for the next president to lead the country away
from conventional agriculture and to shift to Ecological Agriculture.
The Philippine weather and
climate agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA) also announced that the Philippines
will experience the full impact of the prevailing strong El Nino
phenomenon's peak intensity during the first semester of 2016, which
is expected to usher in drought and dry spell conditions from
below-normal rainfall and warmer-than-normal air temperature.
“With the Supreme Court
decision in place and the effects of El Nino threatening the
agriculture sector and thus, our food sufficiency, now is the time for
the Philippine government – especially for the next president – to
look into appropriate, innovative, climate-resilient,
environment-friendly and science-based farming, which is what
Ecological Agriculture is,” concludes Benosa-Llorin.