'Fresh blood'
Published Jul 28, 2022 12:02 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
No offense to vampires and Red Cross, but fresh blood is what the man wants.
In the middle of his SONA last Monday, President BBM, sounding like his alter ego, the DA secretary, said “fresh blood in the agriculture sector” is needed, such as scientific farming and resiliency in the face of climate change. He could’ve been referring also to the reality that while our farmers are growing older, 54 being their average age, their children are determined not to follow in their elders’ footsteps into the ricefields.
“Planting rice is never fun” was a song that every grader sang and memorized in the last century, until it felt like a curse. But the image of the “poor” farmer, his back bent and his future dim, has persisted. How refreshing it was, therefore, to hear a Chief Executive who was once governor of an agricultural province begging a new generation of farmers to take over from their elders, who comprise 24 percent (10.3 million) of the population.
BBM wants farmers to increase productivity – and stabilize prices of food – through financial and technical assistance in the form of cheap or free farm inputs, postproduction facilities, modern techniques, farm-to-market roads, and by condoning debts, improving the value chain.
A total of 52,000 ha of unused land is available for distribution to landless war veterans and their heirs, soldiers and policemen, and, listen to this, “college graduates” – fresh blood!
Fresh blood would be welcome also to fortify the ranks of teachers. With “refresher courses for teachers” in mind, BBM said the “horror stories” he has heard about children going to school without books, tools, and learning materials “must end.” Indeed, he was talking about computers.
How to equip every child with one? A daunting job for VP and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, but like the man hopes, things “won’t be easy but I see sunlight filtering through these dark clouds.”
The son also rises. Rain falls on the just and the unjust, but a touch of “Marcos weather” happened on BBM’s SONA. A downpour dispersed protesters and ruined their Marcos effigies late in the morning, but by the time BBM supporters gathered at their designated area, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.
Jullie Y. Daza
No offense to vampires and Red Cross, but fresh blood is what the man wants.
In the middle of his SONA last Monday, President BBM, sounding like his alter ego, the DA secretary, said “fresh blood in the agriculture sector” is needed, such as scientific farming and resiliency in the face of climate change. He could’ve been referring also to the reality that while our farmers are growing older, 54 being their average age, their children are determined not to follow in their elders’ footsteps into the ricefields.
“Planting rice is never fun” was a song that every grader sang and memorized in the last century, until it felt like a curse. But the image of the “poor” farmer, his back bent and his future dim, has persisted. How refreshing it was, therefore, to hear a Chief Executive who was once governor of an agricultural province begging a new generation of farmers to take over from their elders, who comprise 24 percent (10.3 million) of the population.
BBM wants farmers to increase productivity – and stabilize prices of food – through financial and technical assistance in the form of cheap or free farm inputs, postproduction facilities, modern techniques, farm-to-market roads, and by condoning debts, improving the value chain.
A total of 52,000 ha of unused land is available for distribution to landless war veterans and their heirs, soldiers and policemen, and, listen to this, “college graduates” – fresh blood!
Fresh blood would be welcome also to fortify the ranks of teachers. With “refresher courses for teachers” in mind, BBM said the “horror stories” he has heard about children going to school without books, tools, and learning materials “must end.” Indeed, he was talking about computers.
How to equip every child with one? A daunting job for VP and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, but like the man hopes, things “won’t be easy but I see sunlight filtering through these dark clouds.”
The son also rises. Rain falls on the just and the unjust, but a touch of “Marcos weather” happened on BBM’s SONA. A downpour dispersed protesters and ruined their Marcos effigies late in the morning, but by the time BBM supporters gathered at their designated area, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.