ILOILO CITY -- Western Visayas region is banking on the next generation farming to achieve food security.
“Food sustainability is a growing global concern,” said Emil Diez, president of the Iloilo Business Club (IBC).
“We need proactive interventions to continue supporting our community,” he added.
IBC Vice President Maria Luisa ‘Marissa’ Segovia said the recent ‘Next Gen Farming: Enhancing Food Sustainability in Western Visayas’ is an offshoot of the focus group discussion last September with farmers’ organizations, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Segovia told Manila Bulletin that one of the key issues discussed was regenerative agriculture, which is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem.
This led to a consultative meeting with Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines (SARAI). It is a program funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), an agency under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The region that consists of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod still has sufficient agricultural produce.
However, the annual problems besetting the farming sector is faced with losses, especially when flood hits during typhoons. There are other concerns, including the cost efficiency for small-farmers to sell their produce.
Among other things discussed were how farmers in the region could apply for financial assistance; the reassessment of the 2017-2022 Commodity Roadmap; the continuation of the on Kadiwa ni Ani project; farm clustering; digital agriculture; farm logistics; and the best practices of big farms and small farms in the region.