The Philippines is an agricultural country, and our GDP mostly relies on the agriculture industry due to our fertile land that’s ideal for farming. Even colonizers saw the beauty of our land and wanted to use our resources, thus we were under the rule of different countries for a significant amount of time. Unfortunately, our own government officials can’t seem to see what our colonizers saw in our land. They continue to neglect what more the agricultural industry could offer for the Filipino people and only focus on their insincere so-called “agri-industrialization” which would be more appropriate to be called “rapid industrialization” of the Philippines.

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Land is important. It is where infrastructures used for nonagricultural purposes like roads and buildings are built on. It is also home to millions of Filipinos, but most importantly, having land that is for agricultural purposes is needed too. We tend to forget that we get our food, fruits, and vegetables, which are rich in vitamins and nutrients that are needed to maintain good health, from land. The feeds that farm animals eat are also mostly made from fruits and vegetables, and to have good livestock like milk, meat, eggs, etc., the farm animals need to first be given enough food which is mainly sourced through farming in the land. With the increasing population that we have now, being able to supply food for all these Filipinos is of most importance which is why whether we have enough agricultural land should be considered. With land conversion, turning agricultural land into nonagricultural for industrial, commercial, tourist, or residential uses, becoming rampant, the fertility of our land is at risk.

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Farmers are losing their livelihood, and Filipinos have less to eat which leads us to import products from other countries. The injustice that our farmers experience also needs to be addressed. Most of our farmers don’t even own the land that they till. There is a conflict between the priorities and opinions of the government and our local farmers, thus an issue arises. The center of the issue is in the fertile land of the Calabarzon region during the 1990s. The Ramos administration believes that they can transform the Philippines into a newly industrialized country by the year 2000 through plans in industrializing our land and welcoming investors and more business opportunities by progressively removing restrictions on foreign share equity in local industries, liberalizing trade policy, and providing tax exemptions. This would mean that the amount of nonagricultural land will have to be increased, meaning a loss in agricultural land. While on the other hand, our local farmers believe that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) should be fully implemented because it is the true promise for a better future, not the rapid industrialization that the government wants to do to achieve the NIC status.

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Through the years, there have been three previous legislative attempts to enact land reform (the 1955 Land Reform Act, the 1963 Land Reform Code, and the 1972 Presidential Decree No. 27), but as of 1985 despite a legacy of over fifty years of agrarian reform, 85 percent of the approximately 10 million Filipinos engaged in agriculture are still share-tenants, leaseholders, or regular and seasonal farmworkers. With the implementation of CARP and its provisions not being as strict, the actions promised in the agrarian reform are delayed. With the uncertainty of whether farmers will be able to have the land that they deserve and worked hard on, or if they’ll have any land at all because of the increased land conversions, the future of our country’s agriculture industry is not bright. Considering that the average age for Filipino farmers is also 53 years old, we might just end up starving in the next few years.

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Unfortunately, the issue of land conversion and the delayed land reform directly affects our country in many ways.​

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1.) With the rampant land conversions happening, the land that was once used for agricultural purposes will risk losing its fertility and its soil end up being eroded. The farmers who have lost their livelihoods have no choice but to practice swidden cultivation on marginal lands in upland areas where most forests are located. The trees get cut down to create space for crops to grow on, which overall threatens the nation’s forest with further depletion and soil erosion which will lead to pollution.

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2.) The factories and power plants that will be built near nature will pollute its water forms with high rising levels of toxic and hazardous industrial waste which means they can’t be utilized as water sources anymore.

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3.) The water pollution will also cause the marine life in these areas to be directly affected.

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4.) The quality of air decreases as the polluted gas that is being produced from these factories is being released, and without any trees to filter the carbon dioxide and turn them into oxygen, lives in neighboring towns may have to suffer from this.

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5.) With the land being used for nonagricultural purposes as well, the lives of the animals living in these places will be endangered. They will suffer a loss in their habitat which could even be the reason for their extinction as a species group.

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6.) The farmers will have to be socially dislocated from their homes and find new ways to earn a living. They are responsible for sourcing out the raw materials in our land, so once there is a deficit in the labor that they put in, the fertile land that we have will not be utilized to its fullest potential, produce will be sold for higher prices in the market because of the shortage meaning there is a high demand and low supply, but because no one is working to increase the supply, we have to pay for overpriced goods, and finally, because not everyone can afford to buy their needs at the time of a shortage, many will starve and possibly die of hunger.

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7.) Economically, our country is also at high risk of gaining more debt because once we have no more food, we will turn to our neighboring countries for help. We can’t even pay off the debt we have acquired as of now, what more if we borrow the money worth enormous amounts of food to feed millions of Filipinos. It will take us decades or even centuries to pay off all the money we have borrowed, leaving future generations to suffer the consequences of what our generation allowed to happen.

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8.) Politically as well, the legal loopholes in the land conversion may cause heated debates among the government and the masses. With our government allowing all of these to happen by pushing the land conversion, and us citizens not doing anything about it, we are only creating a bigger gap between the poor and the rich. The rich will only get richer, while the poor will only get poorer. The landlords who own the land will be able to sell their land off to bigger companies and earn more than they ever had with the farmers in harvesting. The farmers who unfairly work so hard and still pay rent to their landlords, but still get low wages, sometimes even below minimum wage, won’t have a chance to earn anything anymore.

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This issue will continue to be a problem for not only the farmers, but the entire Philippine nation as a whole because we don’t find solutions for it. If the government will not change its ways, we can change within our community first. The effects of land conversion will mostly be negative, so we should fight for what is right. We can simply do this by spreading awareness, letting more people know about what is happening.

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I feel that the farmers deserved better. They were failed by our government despite being the backbone of our economy. They wake up earlier than sunrise to start their work on the fields and they are in the sun all day, working harder than anyone else, but still have to pay rent to the landlord. Being a farmer is physically taxing. They were the ones who gave up their blood, sweat, and tears to make a living, but someone else gets a share of what they earned because it’s not their land. I find it very unfair and quite baffling, to be honest. I believe that the farmers should be granted the agrarian reform that they were promised because it’s about time that we bring back the honor and respect that we have for our country’s farmers as people of the workforce. If they themselves owned the whole land that they work on, we are sure that every hectare of land is used for agricultural purposes and utilized to its fullest potential. Once they have harvested the crops, they don’t need to pay rent anymore, thus the prices of products will significantly decrease compared to its prices now. More people will also be able to afford this which means that fewer Filipinos will be forced to work outside the country to provide for their families.

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To make this happen though, we should start with choosing the right leaders. We should vote for leaders that we know will be strict with their implementation of laws and provide an honest public service. Encouraging more people of the youth to join in being part of the agriculture industry will also be of great help in bringing back the pride in the Philippines’ agriculture. With a stronger workforce in the agricultural sector, the government will also pay attention to it and hopefully give the farmers what they deserve. The modern farmer can make use of the new technologies in farming today to make farming more efficient, all he needs is the same dedication and perseverance that Filipino farmers ingrained within themselves.

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In our own little ways as well, we can support the farmers by buying their products and spreading awareness to more people about this issue. Through the internet and technology that we have now, anything is possible as long as you have the will to make it happen.

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