Emerging Agricultural Technologies in the Philippines: A Sociological Essay on
Their Contributions to Individual Well-being and Human Connectedness
Reuben Andrew A. Muni
Department of Social Anthropology and Psychology
College of Social Sciences, University of the Philippines Baguio
Baguio City, The Philippines
e-mail address: reubenandrew14@yahoo.com
telephone no. 63 74 442-2427
mobile phone no. 63 9203737673
The Pharaoh and the Plague
For many Filipinos who have come to be familiar with the tangy scent of rice stalks
bowing heavy with golden grains waiting to be sheared from their roots during harvest time, the
news of a rice shortage in 2008 for an agricultural country seems to dawn upon them with a
phantom-like appearance of the truth. Just as the Egyptians during the Biblical times could only
sigh in disbelief how a great civilization like theirs came to a standing helplessness against the
attack of the crickets to constitute one of the seven deadly plagues, Filipinos were relying on
their pharaoh, in this case former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to exert her much touted
iron hand so as to address the issue of food insecurity in this country.
The intertwined contrast and similarity of the two scenarios pictured here seems to reflect
not just this writer’s sense of ambiguity with regards to how serious the government is in
optimizing billions and billions of fund allocated from the annual national budget on efforts to
strengthen measures and reinforce policies that support the agricultural sector of this country but
also the feeling of anxiety for people who would not consider their meals “decent” if there is no
rice in it. Never mind if it is only your humble “tuyo” or “tinapa” with red egg and slices of
tomatoes that go with it. For many who have come to depend on rice as their premium energy
food and likewise for those who blame it for their pot bellies and diabetes, rice occupies a
distinctive and symbolic status in the everyday gastronomic realities of Filipinos’ lives. Such is
the place of rice in Filipino society that some scholars suggest that it is among the most
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prominent bearers of cultural practices and traditions of the country’s diverse ethno-linguistic
groups.
The idea of agriculture as the country’s chief economic activity for its many citizens
seem to give to many people the impression of an antiquated mode of economic planning and
policy-making. And for many of these Filipinos who seem to have forgotten how much effort it
takes in order for them to enjoy their food on the table, they also seem to fail to notice what
agriculture, not only as an economic activity but as a whole way of life, a culture, could
contribute to nation-building, to use a multi-faceted term. It is in this light that I would like to
start my discussion on how emerging agricultural technologies could play a role in jumpstarting
once again the agricultural sector in this country with the hope that this could create a series of
individual and structural changes on how we look at agricultural activity as both an economic
and social and cultural activity. What I would like to show here are: first, the potential
contributions of emerging agricultural technologies to socioeconomic development; second, the
individual and personal dimensions in the use of emerging agricultural technologies; and third,
the challenges that confront the use of emerging agricultural technologies and what can we do to
promote and sustain the use of these emerging agricultural technologies.
Cities, Farms and Leisure
The use of the term “emerging agricultural technologies” in this paper refers to three
important and yet underappreciated alternative agricultural technologies that have gained some
prominence in the Philippine agricultural sector from the early 1990s up to the present: 1) urban
agriculture; 2) organic farming; and 3) leisure farming and/or agricultural tourism. This however
does not mean that it has also gained full acceptance among the predominantly small-scale
farmers in the country. On the contrary, much of these technologies that I will be mentioning in
this paper to advance my discussion on the role that they play to contribute to individual wellbeing and to promote human connectedness are largely limited to middle-class farmers who have
come to know them and appreciate their potentials because of their education and socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, I would like to emphasize that the term “emerging
agricultural technologies” or “EAT” is a term that I coined myself, notwithstanding the
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possibility that somebody else might have also coined the term independent of my will and
knowledge. It is in this specific context that I would like to begin my discussion on the three
aforementioned examples of emerging agricultural technologies.
Luc JA Mougeout, in the book Agropolis: The Social, Political and Environmental
Dimensions of Urban Agriculture presents the following definition of urban agriculture:
Urban agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) or on the fringe (peri-urban)
of a town, city or a metropolis, which grows and raises, processes and distributes a
diversity of food and non-food products, (re-)using largely human and material resources,
products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human
and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area (Mougeout, 2005;
p.2)
Hydroponics can be considered as an example of an alternative technology embedded in the
larger context of urban agriculture in the Philippines. It is said to have been practiced for a much
longer time period than what most people in the field think about it although many of its
practitioners and admirers consider it as a relatively recent practice in the Philippines (Duldulao
in Nitural, http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/March 1, 2008).
The year 1998 marked the formal start of urban agriculture in the country when then
acting Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar organized efforts to include it as a
program of the DA. The order to former DA Region IV Director Conrado Gonzales to integrate
urban agriculture in the DA Region IV agenda is considered as the official gesture for the
dawning
of
urban
agriculture
in
the
Philippines
(Nitural,
http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/ Date Accessed: March 1, 2008). Earlier
however, some institutions like the Don Severino Agriculture College (DSAC) now known as
Cavite State University (CvSU) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños’s College of
Agriculture had already initiated talks about some of the practical items of the different
components of urban agriculture. CvSU for instance has concentrated its efforts on the
improvement of multi-storey farming as a method of growing coconut and coffee base crops.
Almost at the same time, UPLB began to take into account “sustainable production, productivity
enhancement, product quality evaluation in contaminated urban environment, post-harvest
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handling of commodities grown in urban areas, urban waste management and utilization,
horticulture, policies affecting the practice of urban agriculture, greening, and marketing studies”
in
their
research
and
development
agenda
on
urban
agriculture
(Nitural,
http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/ Date Accessed: March 1, 2008).
It can then be said that Secretary Dar’s initiatives in 1998 was the beginning of the
formation of a network between the academe, the government and the communities where the
program was pilot-tested. To exhibit the viability of urban agriculture, two areas were named for
these primary ventures. Barangays Holy Spirit in Quezon City and Santo Toribio in Lipa City in
Batangas were the representatives for an urban area in Metro Manila and an urban area in the
province respectively.
A year later, 1999, started the entry of the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in the
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija into the urban agriculture network. The introduction of a
procedure known as receptacle farming included CLSU as yet another institution in the
Philippine urban agriculture alliance. Early efforts were pointed towards the conceptualization
and replication of the models and related ones in selected areas in Metro Manila such as Quezon
City, Makati City, Muntinlupa City, Las Piñas City, Navotas and Malabon to mention some of
the areas that were included for these efforts. Expansion and duplication of these initiatives in
some towns in Nueva Ecija were achieved through the assistance of a grant given by the United
Nations’
Food
and
Agriculture
Organization
(Nitural,
http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/ Date Accessed: March 1, 2008)
Organic farming, another example of an emerging agricultural technology in the country
has a long way to begin with. It can be argued that most, if not all of the farming practices that
were already in existence since the dawn of agriculture in the Philippines can be mentioned as
examples of organic farming. Many of these practices, integrated into what anthropologists and
rural sociologists label as indigenous farming systems can be considered and are actually organic
farming methods (Viado, 1997). For the purposes of this paper, we will refer to organic farming
as those farming methods and techniques that utilize minimal to zero commercial and inorganic
agricultural inputs to improve crop yields such as commercial and inorganic fertilizers and
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commercial and chemical pesticides. The term generally refers to a “process that uses methods
respectful of the environment, from the production stages through the handling and processing.
Organic production is not merely concerned with a product, but also with the whole system used
to produce and deliver the product to the ultimate consumer, (Food and Fertilizer Technology
Center Newsletter, 2004).” This can also include the use of methods and techniques such as
conventional bio-composting, vermi-culture or vermicomposting or the use of specially-bred
earthworms to convert organic matter into compost and rain-fed horticulture and agriculture
among others. I will be limiting the use of the term to the utilization of conventional biocomposting and the minimal to zero usage of commercial and inorganic fertilizer and pesticide
types in improving crop yields.
The concept of an agricultural space providing as an option to the rest and recreation
needs of the people is not something entirely new. People in countries like Taiwan and Korea
have included in their holiday destinations what is known as leisure farms. In Taiwan, this is
called
leisure
agriculture
or
agri-tourism
(Chien-Hsien,
http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/ Date Accessed: March 1, 2008). The
general idea is to promote these farms as alternative destinations whether for weekend tourists or
for those who really want to stay and be more involved in understanding nature’s sights, scents
and sounds. Taiwan’s department of agriculture hopes that people will appreciate and learn to
care for their environment because they value this not only for the practical benefits that they
acquire from it but also for its aesthetic and therapeutic values and potentials.
But we need not go to Taiwan or Korea to be able to experience the benefits of these
leisure farms. It is interesting to note that when one travels to areas south of Metro Manila such
as Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, one will notice a good number of organic farms that are
not only into chemical-free farming but also into being weekend and holiday destinations for rest
and recreation. Most of these leisure farms such as the Women’s Wholeness and Ecology Farm
located in Mendez, Cavite do not only serve as demonstration farms for organic farming but also
offer bed and breakfast accommodations and may also serve as retreat and training centers. The
Mendez farm for instance serves as a host for trainings and other activities related to advocacies
of gender and environmental conservation. The farm also sells some of its organically grown
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produce to visitors. Many of these farms also have their restaurants that serve meals prepared
mostly out of the farms’ organic vegetables. I would like to clarify that although many of these
leisure farms that offer food grown organically in their restaurant menus are for vegetarians and
vegetarian food lovers, some of these also offer dishes for non-vegetarians. These dishes that
contain chicken and pork meat from the farms’ free-range animals are also considered as organic
food and organic food products. One need not be a vegetarian to appreciate organic food
products though some advocates of organic farming tend to advance vegetarian lifestyles. I am
not part of this advocacy or a vegetarian myself, but could actually be categorized as someone
who appreciates the benefits of organic farming in this country.
Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability are the Keys
Having provided a brief introduction and review of some of the emerging agricultural
technologies in the Philippines that will be used for the discussion in this paper, I will now turn
our attention to some of the potential contributions of emerging agricultural technologies for
socio-economic development. Setting aside the current issue of a looming food crisis in the
Philippines but also putting that as a concrete example of a scenario that could be avoided in the
future, my discussion is aimed to provide some broad strokes in the picture of how these
emerging agricultural technologies could be utilized to address many of the issues on food
security, sustainable agriculture and sustainable development, environmental protection, poverty
alleviation and the maintenance of rural communities and tradition.
Food Security
A discussion on food security these days is not only a political imperative but also a
technical one. Political in the sense that it is very much dependent on how the government’s
efforts will succeed and be technically-appropriate and acceptable that will determine the fate of
the country’s food supply. It is an ironic and a sad fact that the Philippines is the home of the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) which trains thousands of agriculture technicians
and experts from various countries of the world and yet we are at the mercy of various political,
economic, technological and environmental factors when it comes to rice production and even in
6
fruit and vegetable production. It is a disheartening reality that as an agricultural country, we still
import rice from our neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam and fruits and vegetables from
China.
The use of emerging agricultural technologies is not intended to replace the traditional
and/or conventional farming methods used by many of our farmers. It is designed to complement
if not enhance these methods by allowing our farmers to design farming methods and practices
that suit their particular economic and environmental conditions in their areas. Organic farming
for instance is not meant to replace the use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides overnight.
Instead, it is designed to be integrated into farming by gradually reducing the amount of
commercial fertilizer used by the farmer and gradually increasing the amount of organic fertilizer
until such time that the farmer uses very minimum quantity of commercial fertilizer, if not totally
absent, from his or her farm. By doing so, the farmer becomes less dependent on men who offer
loans with exorbitant interest rates in order for them to finance their fertilizer needs. Organic
farming is actually aimed at self-sufficiency by enabling the farmer to provide for himself the
necessary farming inputs that is most accessible and available to him without failing to consider
that such inputs are both environment-friendly and affordable (Viado, 1997). Though admittedly
labor-intensive, many organic farmers state that based from their experience, this is only
applicable during the first years of operation of the farm and would later be as less labordependent as your conventional, inorganic farm.
Urban agriculture on the other hand, is also designed not so much to replace traditional
farming methods so as to provide the necessary technologies in order for people to raise plants
and animals fit for their consumption in areas that are limited to the use of conventional farming
techniques due to the lack of arable land and limited water supply and space to grow plants. Just
like organic farming, it is also designed to complement traditional agricultural practices and to
provide alternatives where there is a need or a desire to grow plants for human consumption. For
instance, hydroponics as a form of urban agriculture was independently invented by the people
who built the Hanging Gardens of Babylons and by the Aztecs of Peru some 3000 years ago in
order for them to provide for themselves the food that they needed and to address the issue of the
scarcity of fertile lands to grow their crops (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics. Date
7
Accessed: March 9, 2008). We can say therefore that the issue on food security can actually be
addressed, partially, by improving and integrating the use of emerging agricultural technologies
into traditional and mainstream farming methods.
Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Development
It is impossible to discuss the issue of food security and insecurity without mentioning
the broader issues of sustainable agriculture and sustainable development. In fact the failure or
the inadequacy of many governments to formulate an economic policy that meets the minimum
criteria for a sustainable agriculture is one of the causes if not the major one, of many food crises
that periodically affect many countries of the world and perennially confront poverty-stricken
regions of the country. Thus, many agricultural experts employed as technical government
advisers and consultants are short of being accused as being prescriptive if they insist that the
government should prioritize in improving the agricultural sector of the country not only as
crucial measures to strengthen food security but also to improve the economy and help fight
poverty.
Having this context in mind, one cannot be pretentious on how much contribution and
potential contributions these emergent agricultural technologies have already provided and can
provide in trying to address the issue of sustainable agriculture. It was mentioned earlier that one
of organic farming’s salient aims and features is self-sufficiency, no matter how small in scale a
farm may be. In principle and in actual practice, organic farming then provides us with the
concrete model on how we can use of our existing natural resources to address the practical
needs that agriculture poses to its practitioners. Many writers who have spent a considerable time
in doing field research on sustainable agriculture have expressed similar opinions on how
organic farming plays a vital role in advancing
techniques and philosophies that can be
considered as under the term ‘sustainable agriculture.’ Among them is Maria Francisca Viado in
her book Routing Sustainable Agriculture (1997).
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The discussions on urban agriculture of many researchers in the field, including that of
Luc JA Mougeout, is grounded on the premise that urban agriculture is not to be treated
separately from the issue of sustainable agriculture as illustrated by cases of food shortages on
different parts of the world, including first world countries such as Germany and the United
Kingdom
(Perez-Vasquez,
Anderson
and
Rogers,
2005;
Holmer
and
Drescher,
http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/. Date Accessed: March 1, 2008). Thus,
most if not all written material on urban agriculture will not fail to ignore or at least will have a
single mention of the issue on sustainable development and the role that urban agriculture plays
in helping to create a country’s economic and agricultural policies that are grounded on
sustainable agriculture.
It has become a conscious practice on my part that whenever I talk about sustainable
agriculture, the term ‘sustainable development’ is almost always mentioned before or after it.
This is due to my belief that if we are to talk of sustainable development in the Philippines, it
will be farcical not to include sustainable agriculture in the discussion, and more importantly in
implementing policies and measures set by the government to capture the seemingly elusive
objective of initiating socio-economic development that does not fail to consider the welfare of
the environment and development that is sincerely tailor-made for the improvement of the
average Filipino’s economic, political and social status. Thus, I would like to reiterate that a
genuine agenda on sustainable development for the Philippines must rest on the assumption that
the agriculture sector is among the chief concerns of anyone or any group who is in power, an
agriculture sector that caters to the needs and interests of the Filipino people.
Environmental Protection
The discussions on food security, sustainable agriculture and sustainable development
mutually reinforce each other. This is also what I believe about the discussion on the role that
emerging agricultural technologies has to play in supporting environmental protection. There is
enough evidence and literature (Mougeout, 2005; Perez-Vasquez, Anderson and Rogers, 2005;
Nitural, 1999; Viado, 1997) that confirms that indeed urban agriculture and organic farming do
9
more good than harm when it comes to environmental protection and conservation. What I
would like to shift our attention to in this section of the discussion, is on how leisure farming,
also known as agri-tourism contributes to environmental protection by providing people with the
necessary exposure during their rest and recreation periods on how the environment can be and is
actually a source of relief from the different types of stresses of modern, urban living and why as
both individuals and as members of the different groups and institutions that we are all affiliated
with, must do our part in protecting the environment.
I have not seen results of a study conducted to provide information on how leisure farms
and agri-tourism actually help to relieve the stresses and anxieties of city people in the
Philippines (though I am not implying that there is none). There is however, an interesting article
posted on the internet which is actually a paper delivered by a Taiwanese researcher on the
International Workshop on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in the Asian and Pacific Region
last May 2006 that outlines some of the benefits of leisure farms in Taiwan in supporting
agricultural transformation and in mobilizing people in the rural areas. Entitled “Improving
Environment and Economy through Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture: A Case of Agri-tourism
in Taiwan,” the article by Chien-Hsien Yen provides readers on the potential benefits that a
country could reap especially if it looks at itself as both agricultural and a tourist destination. Not
surprisingly, the Philippines, or more specifically, its present government leaders, are on the
forefront of endorsing agriculture and tourism as among the country’s top income earners, only
surpassed by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) remittances. Chien-Hsien’s article illustrates
some of the early successes as well as struggles of the Taiwanese government in starting up agritourism and convincing its people, particularly those in the rural areas to support the
government’s programs in promoting the creation and maintenance of leisure farms in the
Taiwanese countryside. It documents how Taiwan combined agriculture and tourism in the
government’s agenda to promote agricultural growth and increase tourist arrivals, both local and
foreign and in the process of doing so, they were able to achieve their goals with less efforts and
more effectiveness. Indeed, a classic example of shooting two birds with a single stone.
Poverty Alleviation
10
It goes without saying that efforts in increasing food security, promoting sustainable
agriculture and sustainable development and promoting environmental conservation are all
aimed and related, directly and indirectly to poverty alleviation. What I would like to call
attention to in terms of how emerging agricultural technologies, particularly urban agriculture,
organic farming and leisure farming/agri-tourism contribute to poverty alleviation in this country
is not so much on the financial-material aspects of the task but more on the hidden, intangible
effects of the practice of techniques and methods categorized as emerging agricultural
technologies. This is not to sidetrack the concrete efforts and effects that I have identified in this
paper and by other writers elsewhere, on how urban agriculture, organic farming and agritourism have and could potentially contribute to improve the country’s economic conditions
through the enhancement of these technologies that small-scale farmers could employ to increase
their yields and production.
Much has been said and written about these matters so what I would like to focus on is on
how the utilization of emerging agricultural technologies could actually cause an attitudinal if
not a psychological shift in terms of how the Filipino people see themselves not just relying on
tradition and convention to address their immediate as well as long-term concerns. I am referring
to the effect that the use of emerging agricultural technologies could influence on how an
average Filipino could see him/herself as an innovator, someone who could combine the past and
the present, both in terms of culture and technology, to create his or her own future that is better
than it is today or in the past. It has been suggested by social scientists, of which the
anthropologist Oscar Lewis is among the most notable of, that poverty is not only a material
condition but it is also cultural and therefore also a state of mind. Thus, there is what
anthropologists, sociologists, historians and of lately, economists call as the “culture of poverty,”
a term coined by Lewis himself after conducting an anthropological study on five Mexican
peasant families sometime in the 1950s. In a nutshell, Lewis asserts that though it has been
recognized prior to his research that there are specific economic conditions that cause poverty,
there are also cultural and mental constructs that, if remain undetected and unarticulated, are
actually “enabling” mechanisms for people to believe that their poverty is irreversible and worse,
unchangeable.
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The mention of the culture of poverty in this discussion is important since technologies
are a part of a society’s culture. In other words, it is sociologically naïve to talk about technology
as neutral and unattached to any specific social, cultural and historical context. The introduction
therefore of any form of technology that is considered as not part of the traditional way of doing
things, such as farming, is also an indirect way of introducing new concepts and ideas that could
benefit the people who are at the receiving end. It is in this line of thought that I would also
argue, as some writers before me have done (Nitural, 1999; Holmer and Drescher, 2005), that the
introduction and eventually the use of these emerging agricultural technologies can actually
create a positive attitudinal change as illustrated for instance by one of organic farming’s main
goals of self-sufficiency. This kind of self-sufficiency however should not be mistaken for selfcenteredness and elitism. Rather this is the kind of self-sufficiency that is both empowering and
humbling at the same time since it is grounded on values of environmental protectionism and
working with the immediate communities surrounding the organic farm to meet targets that are
both realistic and relevant.
One cannot deny that the task of poverty alleviation and promoting sustainable
development are articulated in many philosophies and even the Bible itself, as seen through
Christ’s famous dictum: “Give me a fish and I will eat for a day. Teach me how to fish and I will
eat for a lifetime.” Many of us have always seen this teaching in its literal sense but only a few
have seen that this is in fact Christ’s ways of telling the people that self-sufficiency was in fact a
highly regarded value even by Jesus Christ himself. The question therefore to ask in this light is:
If you are to teach someone to fish, which method would you teach? Is it the method that quickly
drains the sea of the fish thus having all of the fishes only for a day? Or the method that helps to
improve the quality and quantity of the fish in the sea and eventually provides for a longer period
of time?
Maintenance of Rural Communities and Tradition
An often ignored if not neglected aspect in the discussion of
agriculture, whether
sustainable agriculture and sustainable development or the use of emerging agricultural
technologies, is on how agriculture is actually a direct manifestation of a people’s heritage. This
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may be due to the fact that most of the researches that we read about agriculture are produced by
technical experts on plant breeding, irrigation or pest management thus much of them are
couched in the language of the agricultural, biological and chemical sciences. There is however,
a growing literature on the cultural aspects of agriculture such as the Dr. Clemen Aquino’s Palay
at Buhay: Mga Kwento Mula sa Isang Nayon sa Laguna, a life history of a woman rice farmer
and the struggles that she has to face as well as her successes as a mother and a farmer. My point
in this section of the paper is that agriculture is and can be seen as the practice of the traditions
and innovations of a “rice culture.”
We often hear musings about the so-called hollowness of the Filipino culture, that it has
no core, and that it is so adaptive that it easily changes when something new is added to it. Some
would even claim that there is no point in talking of Filipino culture because there is actually
none and if ever there was one, it has vanished a long time ago, as a result of the conquest of the
Spaniards and later on by the American and Japanese people. Those who are more optimistic
propose that we need to recover that lost culture so that we can go back to it and start all over
again. In other words, Filipino culture is highly ambiguous, if not easily assimilated into other
cultures, Asian and Western alike.
But what about looking at it from another vantage point?
That when we speak of Filipino culture in general and most of the diverse ethno-linguistic
groups in the country, we are in fact referring to the practice of agriculture as the actual and
symbolic bearer of our culture as a people? That resiliency and adaptability are very crucial
features in a fast-changing world, then why don’t we think of it as our premium cultural traits
that help us make it through the endless array of struggles and crises that we had to, we have to
and we will have to confront as a people?
Having raised these questions, what I would like to add about emerging agricultural
technologies, given the view that technologies are not neutral and are in fact products of given
economic, political, socio-cultural and historical contexts, is that we can frame the introduction
of these EATs as a process of planned socio-cultural change, bearing in mind that its use is
designed after consulting and considering the farmers’ needs, if not the farmers designing the
technologies themselves. Many Filipinos have always viewed the notion of ‘modernity’ through
the images of having the latest devices and one-stop, one-touch services in information
13
technology and having state-of-the-art and most efficient machineries in the various industries.
There is nothing wrong in this. It is just a limited if not an imitative point of view. Only a few
have actually envisioned the use of these emerging agricultural technologies as a manifestation
of modernity in a Third World Country while at the same time promoting the maintenance of
rural communities and traditions.
The Philippines is a predominantly agricultural country and much, if not most of these
agricultural lands are located in the rural areas. There is however, an intimate if not almost interdependent connection between the rural fringes and urban centers in this country. The rural areas
serve as the food baskets of the many urban centers while the latter serve as the educational,
financial and industrial centers, many of its students and workers coming from the rural areas.
One need not elaborate on this connection as this is an everyday reality that most Filipinos are
aware of.
In recent years however, it has been observed by many social commentators that the
balance between the two has been tipped off towards the urban areas. Meaning, that there are
more people who are now coming to the urban areas to study and work but with no immediate
and long-term plans of going back to the rural areas where they came from. As a result, less and
less people are now involved in doing agricultural work in the rural areas and more and more
people are starting to flood the streets and sidewalks of the cities. It is no wonder then that we
experience the problems of all forms of pollution, congestion and most recently, the dark
prospect of a food shortage as a result of this imbalance. Who wants to consume all of his or her
body’s energies while at the same time being roasted under the sun when planting crops when
there is the option of sitting in an air-conditioned room and happily typing the hours away with
the latest model of a laptop and earn the money that only the farmer could dream of? We often
hear this sarcastic and yet very real comment when we ask many of the people working in the
urban areas’ financial districts. And yet if we ask the very same people where they would want to
spend their retirement years, many of them will tell you, “Id like to be in a farm somewhere in
the south of Manila, probably in Batangas or Laguna, tending to my fruit and vegetable crops.”
A question then comes to mind, why only stay in a farm in your retirement years when you can
stay there when you are still young, given the fact that farm work is much more physically
14
demanding than office work? The obvious reason need not be stated in fact, but still I will. There
is no “work” there, there is no such thing as a “farming career,” and if ever there is one, it is not
as prestigious as having a career in the corporate world or the academe perhaps.
How do we then address this dilemma? I believe that the use of emerging agricultural
technologies has something to offer to us as a way of providing some of the solutions. I
mentioned earlier about planned social change and agriculture as the direct and symbolic
manifestation of Filipino culture. There is an underlying connection between the three and once
again, this is echoed in the notion of sustainable agriculture and sustainable development. It is a
salient connection that has been recently articulated by many practitioners of development work
in this country. In order for the Philippines to fulfill the promises of the so-called “good life” one
must first define what the good life is in the Filipino context. I believe that it is different from
how the Americans and Europeans define the good life but we could learn from how they define
it. In essence, they define what the good life is according to what they can achieve as individuals
and even as peoples using the resources that are available to them. It is in my view that we
should also define the Filipino good life in accordance to what we already have as a people and
by using the existing resources which includes our natural and human resources. It is worth
mentioning that both resources are plentiful in number, and what we need is only a mechanism
or a system of mechanisms on how we can put into good use these existing resources. The use of
emerging agricultural technologies such as organic farming, urban agriculture and agri-tourism is
one of these mechanisms that have demonstrated and still holding that potential that we can in
fact make use of agriculture as the chief economic activity of the Filipino masses but with the
added value that it is also their chief cultural activity. In the process of doing so, one is not only
economically empowered but also sheds off the long-term stigma of having a culture that has no
core. This can only be done if the government has the political will to propose or make use of
existing policies so as to pursue this kind of development in this country, a development that is
based on sustainable agriculture guided by the principles of environmental protection and social
justice.
On a smaller scale though, the use of emerging agricultural technologies can actually help
in the maintenance if not the improvement of rural communities and traditions. By strengthening
15
the capacity of small-scale farmers to be economically self-sufficient, they are also able to
participate in their communities’ vital political as well as socio-cultural affairs. It should not
come as a surprise that people who are more economically secured are also the ones who have
the willingness and the time to be involved in activities and affairs that affirm their sense of
individuality and feeling of belongingness in their communities. These individuals in turn, are
also the ones who are more concerned about maintaining community traditions and practices that
they consider as important for the cultivation, preservation and promotion of their culture.
Following Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, however antiquated it may be, one cannot aim
for self-affirmation when one’s basic physiological and economic needs are not satisfied. The
same may be said about communities in general, rural and urban alike.
Diversity, Individuality and Spirituality in an Agricultural Country
The discussion on the potential contributions of emerging agricultural technologies for
socio-economic development in the Philippines should weave its way for the discussion of the
main argument of this paper: that aside from economic development, these technologies in fact
promote individual well-being and human connectedness, as the title suggests. This is what I
hope to achieve in this section of the paper.
In his article “Urban Agriculture Program in the Philippines: Its Status and Beginnings”
(http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/. Date Accessed: March 1, 2008), Pedrito
S. Nitural identifies some of the benefits that we can get in the practice of urban agriculture
specifically designed for the needs of our cities and areas within the periphery of these urban
area (peri-urban). Aside from its potential in alleviating the scarcity in food production brought
about by the conversion of vast tracts of cultivated lands into industrial parks, Nitural believes
that it can also usher in new ways of thinking and acting among urban dwellers on the practice of
“city farming” (his own terms) in terms of how they utilize many of the resources available to
them. He believes that people who engage in this kind of activities will “have a change(d)
behavior and thinking pattern about production of food, recycling of wastes, protection of the
environment,
nutrition,
working
together,
and
dignity
of
labor.
(http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/. Date Accessed: March 1, 2008).” In
16
particular, Nitural believes that practitioners of urban agriculture will likely to gain the following
benefits:





Sense of fulfillment for producing the food that they eat;
Transformed sensitivity at their environment as it will now mean a source of what
they eat to nourish their body;
Desire to grow more and raise more food as they seem tastier and more nutritious
aside from the fact that they are safe from toxic chemicals;
Changed regard to discarded materials, refuse, rains, sunlight, air, soil, and
degradable wastes to something that can be used beneficially for production of the
food that can be readily brought to the dining table without much expense;
Sense of being well as their undefined restlessness will find assuring calm in tending
gardens
that
produce
(the)
food
they
need
(http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/. Date Accessed: March 1,
2008).
It is also worth mentioning that there are business opportunities that one can explore in
the practice of urban agriculture, whether as main source of livelihood or to augment one’s
income from other similar or unrelated endeavours. This include the sale of plant containers
specially designed for hydroponics, compost mixes made from rice hull, sawdust and other
similar materials needed for other forms of urban agriculture and of course, the sale of the crop
yields from one’s garden (http://www.agnet.org/activities/sw/2006/729863362/. Date Accessed:
March 1, 2008).
Comments made in a similar vein may also be said about organic farming. It has been
repeatedly mentioned in the preceding parts of the paper that one of the salient features and at the
same time goals of organic farming is self-sufficiency, specifically in terms of crop production.
But self-sufficiency is just one of the values that a farmer develops in the process of converting
to organic farming. Other values include personal empowerment, gender equity and equality, the
improvement of one’s sense of spiritual well-being and tolerance and the recognition and
appreciation of diversity, whether cultural or biological and ecological diversity.
Personal empowerment
17
Any farmer who signifies an intention to convert into organic farming is already making
a very big commitment in terms of environmental consciousness and conservation and biological
diversity. For sure, whether he understands the ramifications and repercussions of his conversion
or not, the shift from conventional modes of agriculture into an organic method is not just a
change of mind but a change of heart as well.
Given the reality of the high-demand of labor input if one is to shift into organic farming
(Viado, 1997), a farmer has to have a strong will and determination or what we call in Filipino as
“lakas at tibay ng loob” in order for him/her to start and sustain the practice of organic farming.
Personal empowerment here does not only pertain to the physical rigor that is demanded from
the farmer and his or her fellow farmers (if he/she hires some help or is into cooperative organic
farming) but also to the more taxing social pressure from other farmers who are skeptical about
the benefits or of the whole philosophy of organic farming itself. Many farmers who have shifted
to organic farming complain about the disheartening and sometimes affronting comments that
they hear from other farmers who remain to practice conventional farming practices (Viado,
1997). Others are even considered as threats to the community because of their association with
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) who are unfairly
accused of serving as the legal fronts of underground organizations such as the Communist Party
of the Philippines. Nevertheless, many of these NGOs and POs who are into the advocacy of
promoting organic farming and other sustainable agricultural practices have categorically denied
time and again that they are not working for such and such underground organizations and many
of them are in fact funded by grants given by international agencies and organizations such as the
United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA and both ecumenical and non-sectarian organizations from the
United States and Western Europe that support projects on sustainable agriculture and other
similar causes.
It is in this context that I would like to put forward my opinion that the use of emerging
agricultural technologies such as organic farming develops a considerable degree of personal
empowerment for farmers who have dedicated their time, efforts and resources because of their
belief that organic farming’s benefits, not only to themselves but to the community and the
18
environment as well, far outweigh the costs. I believe that it takes a courageous spirit to defy
such malevolent accusations of working with elements of purported underground organizations,
which are nothing but unfounded claims based on hearsay and biased views, in order to act in
accordance to what they believe is just and reasonable. Such organic farmers only deserve
recognition and respect and not false accusations from people who do not even understand what
the cause of organic farming is all about.
Gender Equity and Equality
It is perhaps a far-fetched idea for someone who has only heard of organic farming, urban
agriculture and agri-tourism or collectively called in this paper as emerging agricultural
technologies as a practice that promotes gender equity and equality. But is precisely in its
uniqueness and the recognition of its potential to develop personal empowerment and harness the
human spirit and imagination that the use of emerging agricultural technologies not only promote
but sustain gender equity and equality. This stems from the fact that each of the three types of
emerging agricultural technologies discussed in this paper are all putting self-sufficiency as
among their top objectives.
A concrete example of how the use of emerging agricultural technologies promotes
gender equity and equality is shown by the farm mentioned in the preceding parts of this paper,
the Women’s Wholeness and Ecology Farm in Mendez, Cavite. The farm is a demonstration
farm for organic farming but is also considered to be a women’s space, without the intention of
excluding the men who work in and visit the farm but to affirm the role of women, specifically
women farmers in reclaiming the so-called “lost Eden.” In accordance with the philosophy of
eco-feminism, the farm administrators in this case the Institute of Women’s Studies under the
leadership of Sister Mary John Mananzan, O.B. of the Sta. Scholastica’s College Manila believe
that it is high time that the role of women and their potential be recognized in their efforts to
protect the environment from the ravages brought about by local and foreign transnational and
multi-national corporations who are embedded and considered to be at the apex of the patriarchal
structures of society.
19
Such a belief of the role of women in protecting the environment stems from the idea that
women are more nurturing than men. This, however does not come from the belief that it is a
biological given but a socio-cultural construct and therefore can be de-constructed and recast
according to the vision of a gender fair and just society that is free of the patriarchal structures
that fetter the full realization of every human being’s potential to achieve what he or she can be
in his or her chosen field of endeavor. Since such a belief that women are more nurturing than
men is a socio-cultural construct, the people working in the Mendez farm espouse the view that
all men and women can be equally nurturing, not only of fellow human beings but also of the
environment in which they live. That men can also be nurturing and thus think of the
environment as something that is integral to his being is a powerful idea that could be wedded
with the idea of sustainable agriculture and put into the practice of organic farming.
Nonetheless, it is also important to note that while the recognition of gender equality is an
indispensable corollary of the use of emerging agricultural technologies, it is equally relevant to
maintain that it also recognizes gender equity, or the idea that all genders are complementary and
that though they may have similarities and differences, it is in these differences that one finds a
rallying point for diversity. The idea therefore behind the connection between the use of
emerging agricultural technologies and gender equity rests on the belief that these differences
should make these different genders work in partnership with one another so as to rely on each
other’s strengths and work on the weaknesses. Thus providing them with points for mutual
cooperation as well as constructive efforts to accept each one’s weaknesses and turn them into
objects of self-improvement and strive for better and yet more accommodating and more
appreciative individuals.
Improvement of Spiritual Well-being and Promotion of Tolerance
To think of the connection between the improvement of spiritual well-being and the
promotion of tolerance, whether religious or socio-political, and the use of emerging agricultural
technologies is perhaps another outlandish matter. But then again, if one is to be serious about
being a student of society and human behavior, there is nothing more outlandish than to ignore
20
the very possibility that indeed such a connection exists. It is already apparent in the previous
discussions for this section of the paper that indeed such a connection exists.
The values of personal empowerment and gender equality and equity are all stepping
stones so to speak of a personal journey towards spiritual enlightenment. This is a view that may
be coming from a specific religious standpoint. I would like to clarify however, that this one is
not and as far as I am concerned, I am speaking from a non-sectarian perspective. My nonsectarianism, however, does not mean that I am in no-position to speak of spiritual enlightenment
and well-being for I firmly believe that no religious organization whatsoever holds the monopoly
of the ways to attaining spiritual enlightenment and welfare.
To return to the original matter at hand, the connection between the use of emerging
agricultural technologies and the improvement of spiritual well-being is situated on the
consequences of the values of personal empowerment and gender equality and equity. Having
mentioned the term “lakas at tibay ng loob” as the equivalent in the Filipino language of being
strong-willed and determined, I believe that this kind of will and determination does not come
from being able to convince one’s self that the shift to organic farming for instance, or an attempt
to promote urban agriculture, is the most rational way of doing things in a wide range of farming
options that is mindful on its effects on the environment and on the impact to the immediate
community. On the other hand but not on the contrary, such “lakas at tibay ng loob” is sourced
from a person’s sense of faith in his or her capacity that he or she can actually do something
concrete to improve the conditions that he or she may or may have not chosen to be in. Rather
than spend the rest of his or her days sulking in resentment and displaying a defeated attitude, the
person who has this strong-will and determination proves to himself or herself that there is no
such thing as a given destiny but we are the ones who create our own destiny out of the actions
and choices that we make because among other things that separate us from the animals, we have
a freewill. Depending on how one looks at this capacity, it is in having this freewill as human
beings that we are blessed or condemned that we are able to make use of our talents and the
resources available to us to realize the world that we envision for ourselves and for the future
generations. Outlandish as it may sound, many of the people who have started to devote
themselves to organic farming and even in leisure farming find a startling difference in how their
21
outlooks in life changed as a result of their involvement with these activities. Many of them have
become more at peace with themselves and as a consequence find themselves more involved in
the socio-political affairs of their immediate communities and of the nation in general, a
consequence that for many people is in fact more outlandish than the idea of organic farming.
Another “outlandish” aspect to this is the seemingly parallelism of their newfound or newlycreated outlooks in life despite having different backgrounds and personal histories prior to their
involvement with the use of emerging agricultural technologies such as organic farming and
agri-tourism.
One can only marvel of how such humble activities as organic farming and agri-tourism
could carry the potential of changing the outlooks in life of people to be more environmentally
proactive and socially committed. This leads me to ask this question: Isn’t it a wonder that since
only a minority of our farmers are into the use of emerging agricultural technologies, many of
the farmers who are still into conventional modes of farming are also operating with the same
outlook in life and worldviews that may not be essentially different to what our ancestors had
before? I am not in a position to answer this question but perhaps would suggest that to challenge
the premise of this question, it is necessary to carry out an extensive and extended field research
on the subject matter of the coverage of the use of emerging agricultural technologies in the
Philippines.
The promotion of tolerance, both religious and socio-political, is also among the
indispensable corollaries of having attained spiritual enlightenment and spiritual welfare. In
principle, when one speaks of a genuine spiritual well-being, he or she is also discussing
religious tolerance due to the belief that there is no single method and no single religious
organization that holds the monopoly over the “truth, the light and the way.” The same premise
is equally applicable to political tolerance. We can even say that tolerance is the underside of
spiritual enlightenment. I have chosen religious and political tolerance for as history had shown,
these are the forces that could unite and also divide the world and make a human being kill
another human being in the name of a god or gods or for the defense or advancement of a
political ideology.
To discuss the improvement of spiritual well-being and promotion of
religious and political tolerance as among the effects on the individual of the use of emerging
22
agricultural technologies is no joking matter, however farfetched the idea may seem. It is only in
being able to identify the connections between the most eccentric of things with the ordinariness
that many people claim to have in their lives that we are drawn to reflect on the significance of
the seemingly mundane and often taken-for-granted objects that are likewise within the
peripheries of our field of vision.
Recognition and Appreciation of Biological and Cultural Diversity
Although last to be discussed as one of the effects on the individual of the use of
emerging agricultural technologies, the recognition and appreciation of biological and cultural
diversity is perhaps among the most easily recognized lessons that we can all learn from this. It
does not take to be an expert in the field of human ecology or biodiversity studies to realize that
a discussion on the benefits of organic farming, urban agriculture and agri-tourism will almost
always list biological diversity as one. An added point however, is that the discussion on
biodiversity in the case of emerging agricultural technologies does not limit the point of
reference to tropical rainforests, marshlands, mangrove forests or coral reefs. Rather it brings the
issue of the need for biological diversity closer to the sources of the food that we eat, the farms.
By doing so, we are also alerted by the fact that when one speaks of biodiversity in relation to
farms and farming systems, we are faced with ourselves as the top species that is responsible for
both the destruction and the promotion of biodiversity. To borrow a phrase in ecology, “we are at
the top of the food chain” and this is applicable to our existence as human beings both at the
species and social levels. Thus, the use of emerging agricultural technologies gives farmers the
opportunity to see for themselves the interrelated and interdependent biochemical processes and
events occurring in their areas of cultivation.
Related to the theme of biological diversity is cultural diversity. This is due to an earlier
mentioned point that the belief that technology is a neutral tool is a myth. In saying that
technology is a product of the existing economic, political, socio-cultural and historical
conditions in which it was created, we are also saying that any form of technology-transfer is
23
also an indirect way of culture-transfer to say the least. Though the principle and practice of
organic farming for instance has been exhibited by the way the early Filipinos practiced
agriculture and looked at their environment in relation to themselves, the modern notion of
organic farming has only been re/introduced to us by the Western world. With regards to urban
agriculture and leisure farming or agri-tourism, we can claim that these are really introduced to
us both by our Asian neighbors and Westerners for historical or archaeological evidences of their
existence prior to the present-day have yet to be uncovered so as to disprove my claim.
Nevertheless, all three as examples of the strategies of alternative technology-transfers (Dickson,
1974) are also concrete examples of culture-transfer or even cultural exchanges as I have earlier
mentioned.
These transfers and exchanges of information, knowledge and techniques for
alternative/non-conventional strategies of farming (organic farming, urban agriculture and leisure
farming) are no different from the transfer of musical compositions, literary pieces, works of
visual arts such as photos, sculptures, paintings and sketches and even performance arts such as
dances and theatrical performances. These two types of transfer and exchange, technologytransfer and the transfer and exchange of works of art can be categorically subsumed under the
terms ‘culture-transfer’ and ‘cultural exchange,’ for both exhibit a common character: they are
all products of the of the existing economic, political, socio-cultural and historical conditions in
which they were created. With this in mind, it is only logical to treat such products as the
embodiment of a certain worldview or philosophy. In the case of emerging agricultural
technologies, they are the product of a philosophy and worldview of sustainable development
that is grounded on the principles of environmental awareness and social justice.
Artist-Farmers as Pioneers
My discussion on the contributions to the individual well-being and human
connectedness on the use of emerging agricultural technologies as well as some of the roles that
they play in advancing socio-economic development in this country touched on a variety of
aspects, most of which are at the social, cultural and individual facets of our life as Filipinos.
Some would simply call it as “wishful thinking” or the ruminations of a dreamer. I do not mind
24
such labels if all these ponderings that I have shared in this paper reflect who I am as a person
and as a Filipino. Nevertheless, I would like to renew a long-held belief that has recently been
resuscitated in my senses while I was writing this paper. We have to create our own destinies,
our own futures, individually and collectively as a people. We are supplied with various venues
to fulfill such creation and generation of our tomorrows and there is no single way to do that.
Thus we are presented with a lot of choices on how to live our lives as individuals and as a
people. We are like artists who have to choose among the endless array of media that we can use
to express our thoughts, our visions, our feelings and our dreams. We have to fashion ourselves
with the things that our environment provides us with, but we also need to consider how we
make use of such things so as not to destroy the very source of the objects that we use for our
“self-fashioning” and for enhancing our collective self-esteem as Filipinos. This reminds me of
what Michel Foucault has to say on this matter: “From the idea that the self is not given to us, I
think there is only one practical consequence: we have to create ourselves as a work of art…
Couldn’t everyone’s life become a work of art? Why should the lamp or the house be an art
object, but not our life?” (Foucault in Nehamas, 1998). He believes that there is a multitude of
ways to do this and I could only nod in silence to agree to this. The prospects of using emerging
agricultural technologies could be one of these ways to make farming, not only an economic,
social and cultural activity, but a process of artistic creation and production. Following Foucault,
why can’t we look at farming as a work of art and farmers as artists?
As a country and a people, we may be at the dawn of a new era in the history of our
nation. As cliché as it may sound, we are the ones who make our destiny. And yet, the destiny
that we have to make as a people still remains in a clouded vision, trapped in a massive haze
brought about by the billows of smoke from the political turmoil that have continually divided
my country as far as history tells us. Thus, we are quite unsure what will be the image that we
will have as a people once we start to tread the paths to our shared and imagined futures. But the
maps and charts that we are provided with by various individuals and groups that share a bright
and sunny future for this country are soaked and smeared with passion, hope, dedication and
commitment. There are a new breed of warriors and travelers that are only waiting to be given
their spots on the ship. Most of them are even willing to help to build the very ship that they will
use in sailing even the most turbulent channels and the roughest seas only to find the New
25
World. They are willing pioneers, ready for the challenge and tasks that lay ahead, filled with
burning visions and primed in their own chosen endeavors and callings. I believe that I am part
of these willing pioneers, of this new breed of warriors and travelers, all of us only waiting for
the right captain to head the ship. We are preparing for the “New Exodus,” but it is an exodus
that will not require us to leave our homeland. It is an exodus that will only require us to leave all
the things that we have long-considered as the obstacles and shackles for my country’s political,
economic, social, and cultural progress. It is an exodus of the mind, of the heart and of the spirit.
The promise land does not lie somewhere across the big oceans of this world. It is our land as a
nation, only waiting for us to fulfill our own promises to ourselves as a people.
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