Pro Poor Policies for Farmers Perpetuate Poverty

An Ateneo Graduate School of Business Advantage

We had a remarkable guest yesterday at the LPC Entrep Class:   Dr. Tito Contado PhD, an educator, entreprepreneur, a former UN FAO agricultural expert. He took up his PhD at Cornell University in NY as Rockefeller fellow, where UP sent him.  He made a sharp statement in his speech while speaking about his New PASSION - NONI juice.  He said that current practices and policies that say they are pro poor are actually anti poor.  Educating and training farmers on how to improve subsistence farming, backyard farming will not help them improve their lot in life.  They will remain poor.

Farming does not meet all the needs of the farmers; there has to be other activities to meet these other needs.  It is where entrepreneurship comes in.

There has to be way by which farming can be commercialized, ie made to be more productive.  It is only possible through entrepereneurship.  That was startling statement.!  He said that the next phase after the land distribution under land reform is consolidation.

Farm inputs in the Philippines to make the farm productive is about P30,000/hectare.  Compare that to  $300.00/ton in Thailand, and $2000 in Japan.  Although it is cheap in the Philippines, most of the farmers do not have that amount nor the access to these funds (It is no wonder that Fmr Usec Errnie Ordonez asked me whether I can take charge of lending to farmers!?)  From interviews, we know that the money lenders charge exorbitant rates to farmers, hence they live in poverty forever.

One neighbor he knows in Laguna, sold his farm to his neighbor, used the proceeds to send his children to school, work for the new owner as the farm hand, got the 30t inputs, ran the farm, and upped the output of the farm from 60 cavans a season to l40.  Now the farm is earning money and he and the new owner are happy.