It was not a question of “Why?” anymore. Rather, “How?” as in how we could help our farmers more should be the fitting query. Fortunately, a long-overdue response to the plight of our farmers was then taking shape. Thanks to small entrepreneurs like The Local Goodness PH, local produce from far communities was finding its way straight to the doorsteps and onto the table of new consumers. Suddenly, the concept of farm-to-table was slowly becoming a reality.
Reasons Why We Must Support the Philippine Farm-to-Table Movement
As we kept the conversation alive about how we could remain consistent and steadfast in helping our local farmers bring their produce to a wider market—while at the same time, skipping a long line of profiteering middlemen—it was important to put to heart the reasons why we had to help our local farmers.
Helping our farmers will uplift their quality of life
The greatest effect of an inclusive economy was to make everyone involved in a supply chain experience major improvement in their lives. The same could be said for our farmers once we helped them either by patronizing their produce or helping them market and distribute it to a wider base of new consumers. Even if we don’t move a muscle, a farmer’s produce would eventually reach our tables. But by doing something, like dealing directly with the farmers while practicing fair trade practices, we could make sure they were handsomely compensated for their grinding work.
Therefore, it was a win-win for all of us. Us for having more access to the freshest food ingredients and the farmers for earning the profits they deserved by helping eliminate unnecessary roadblocks in the supply chain.
Sourcing produce straight from our farmers provides us with the healthiest food
Food writer Tina Punzal, who made up the other half of the widely-read lifestyle blog Hungry Travel Duo, emphasized the importance of proper food nutrition for all. This could be achieved by working closely with our farmers.
“With everyone mostly at home right then, food nutrition had never been more important. So, I think it's high time we turn to buying local. Not only can we source them at fair trade prices, but we also get the best and freshest local produce from our farmers who truly need our patronage, especially during these trying times. How to do this? Join, support, discuss about local groups who facilitate direct produce sourcing from our farmers like Session Groceries, The Igorot Produce, etc. Small ways, accumulated, can produce a social movement!” — Tina Punzal
We need to lure younger people into farming
Farming was an admirable source of livelihood that had driven the success of many civilizations of the past. Through the years, because of its reputation as a low-income generating occupation, this vocation had struggled to attract younger people. A recent survey indicated that most farmers in the Philippines belonged to the fifty years and up age group.
“The average age of the Filipino farmer is fifty-seven to fifty-nine years old—that’s almost the retirement age! If this does not move us into a collective action to help our food producers, I don’t know what will.” — Alek Dela Cruz
By helping our farmers succeed, we also raised the status of the farming profession in luring younger people—from both the countrysides and urban areas—to indulge in a career in agriculture. Achieving this would greatly increase our country’s food security and help many communities to become self-sustainable.
Produce a domino effect of jobs creation
When we helped our farmers, other people also got to experience the many positive results. The agriculture business—if done correctly—could spread the rewards equally and wide, passing good fortunes to everyone involved in the whole supply chain (minus the enterprising middlemen and rich businessmen).
One such example was the ongoing project by Emelyn Balabat on the island of Cobrador in Romblon. She called it the “Cobrador Sweetest Atis Project”. An offshoot of her Bayanihan Eco-Project on the island where she led the construction of a new library using recycled products, Balabat spent the lockdown months shipping off newly-harvested atis fruits (sugar apple or sweetsop) from Cobrador to Metro Manila.
“According to our record, from August 25 to September 26, 2020 alone, we managed to ship a total of 5,848 kilos of atis. Thanks to the people who saw our post online and ordered, the once-a-year harvested atis fruits greatly benefited the island’s farmers. Not only that, it also created a lot of jobs that added to the local's income and supported the local economy,” Balabat said.
Balabat added, “Aside from the forty-one atis farmers who benefited from the project, there were six basket weavers, seven boat owners, nine local men and women packers, five pedicab and tricycle drivers, nine porters, and countless delivery drivers (in Metro Manila) who became part of the whole supply chain.”
Build meaningful relationships to communities
The Local Goodness PH had been able to foster a meaningful relationship with several farming communities since it started packaging and marketing local produce to a wider market in Metro Manila.
In our previous blog post, we shared the story about a community in Mountain Province where a group of mostly mother farmers found modest success in harvesting turmeric tea with the help of The Local Goodness PH.
"Before, we would sell our turmeric and ginger harvest house to house in our community. It was hard that we would always stop after a year and would plant again only if there is another demand—which was always in small quantities," Nanay Theresa Farnican told us over a phone interview in Tagalog. "Today, after the Local Goodness started taking orders for us, it motivated us to keep planting turmeric and ginger. Turmeric farming isn't easy because it takes almost a year to cultivate it. With the help of the Local Goodness, we cannot stop now," Farnican added.
Promote farm tourism to the countryside
Another positive effect of helping our farmers was the additional promotion to the farm tourism industry. Recently, the Department of Tourism (DOT) cited farm tourism as an integral factor in the formation of a sustainable and inclusive development in farming communities around the country.
"We at the DOT are looking forward for Farm Tourism to serve as a catalyst for greater sustainability; we know that we can now pursue it properly, guided by the IRR. Farm Tourism holds the promise of food sufficiency and additional income for our tourism stakeholders, including farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk. After all, gainful employment, enhanced productivity and sustainable livelihoods are what tourism is all about." — Bernadette Romulo-Puyat
The highlands of the Cordilleras were then being groomed as major farm tourism destinations. From the blooming flower farms of Atok to the lush vegetable farms in Mountain Province, one could see the vast potential of achieving not only adequate food security but also an accessible supply route to source fresh produce while mixing it up with leisure activities such as sightseeing and relaxation.
While we could come up with a dozen more reasons why we should help our farmers, the benefits and nutritional wonders they brought to our table could not be matched. In the end, it was them—our farmers—who were really helping us and not the other way around. Just by providing us enough food security to last through the rainy days was something we treated with a great debt of gratitude. Because of that, it was our time to step up and lend a helping hand to the real food producers in our country.
