In spite of its critical importance to the nation's economy, the agriculture industry is confronting a pressing issue as a growing number of young people are shying away from pursuing careers in farming.

A few tobacco farmers in Lidlidda, Ilocos Sur shared how challenging it was to pass on their farm work to their children or younger relatives, as most of the youth prefer to work in other industries like healthcare, engineering, and other corporate jobs.

Farmer Rey Viernes, who has been working with tobacco for the past 20 years, said that succession may be challenging for his side.

“I only have one daughter, 14 years old. My relatives are mostly women too. One of them is in college, she’s in nursing.” he told Manila Bulletin.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported over 10.84 million employed persons in the agriculture and fishery sector last 2022. While this number increased by 1.7 percent from the previous year, many active farmers are having difficulties in passing down farm work to their families.

So far, the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) found 2.2 million Filipinos who depend their finances on tobacco, while nearly 430,000 of the number consist of farmers, farm workers, and their family beneficiaries.

Even then, children of some tobacco growers would rather work abroad or look for greener pastures and attempt to discourage their parents from their farm careers.

“We can’t really force them [to pursue farming],” Viernes added. “So they study hard to get [better] jobs.”

The approximate number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in 2022 was estimated at 1.96 million, posting a 7.6 percent increase from the previous year, according to PSA.

One of the underlying causes as to why a lot of younger people are not interested in farming is due to the wages.

PSA’s 2022 data noted that the agricultural productivity at constant 2018 prices dropped by 1.2 percent to P164,650.5.

At the same time, the most recent average basic wage and salary paid to agricultural workers were raised by 5.3 percent to P301.14 per day.

Hoping to encourage more people to pursue farming, the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) recently reported an increase in tobacco buying prices.

According to NTA, the prime class of flue-cured Virginia tobacco can be sold at P113 per kilo, with an approved floor price of P97.

There’s still hope as Filipino farmers get younger

While there are still active government programs to encourage the new generation to pursue farming, the Department of Agriculture (DA) believes that new farmers are getting younger.

In a statement to the Presidential Communications Office in 2023, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and Spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said that the average age of farmers went down to 49 to 50 years old.

“[For reference,] The previous average age of farmers in the country was 57 years old [based on the registry,” he said.

De Mesa noticed that some of the new farmers were those who went on early retirement and wanted to begin their farm livelihood.

“There’s a lot of them– especially those in the government, or private [sector]... After their term they go back to their love for farming,” De Mesa added.

Until now, farm succession continues to be a problem. But as long as there are initiatives and other programs that could lessen the negative connotation of farming in the country, the youth might just be enticed to consider a career in farming.