Gelia T. Castillo's Response II AGRICULTURAL "FATIGUE" AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT "BLUES": ARE THEY BOTH PASSIm? Let me start with an unequivocal answer which says, "no!" there is agriculture "fatigue" and rural development "blues," but neither agriculture nor rural development has become pass6. In this assessment, I am unknowingly joined by a most unlikely partner, Metro Manila Authority Chairman and Quezon city Mayor Ismael Mathay, Jr. who, in his speech before the Pan Xenia Fraternity's 71st Anniversary celebration, batted for an honest- to-goodness countryside renewal to stem the migration to Metro Manila. He said that "the develoPment of the countryside would also allow provincial areas a deeper and more substantive participation in the government's program to turn the country into a newly industrialized one by the turn of the century. ''l Unfortunately for Mayor Mathay, we might be able to do more about natural increase than about in-migration. After all, the subliminal message seems to be "If you want to get ahead in life, migrate to the city; squat on valuable government property; be a registered voter; join a militant organization (perhaps even the military); fight relocation; and eventually be rewarded with a house and lot (lighted and watered) somewhere in the suburbs. No matter how cynical this may sound, there is no such offer in the rural areas. Aider all, what did these I. In Philippine Daily [nquirer, September 26, 1994. 616 JOURNALOF PHILIPPINEDEVELOPMENT migrants have in the places where they originated: a makeshift dwelling on somebody else's lot (most of them were previously squatters, too); no land to till, let alone own; no doctor in the barrio; no church services except during fiesta; a lousy school, even if tuition was free. And some of us think they should return to the barrio for such an idyllic life! If one has the choice of being poor in Leyte or Bicol, and poor in Quezon City, the choice seems obvious." After 40 years of rural development, a reacquaintance with the concept tells us that perhaps rural development is in a no-win situation. Whenever a rural area progresses to a certain degree, the place is classified as urban, as per statistical definition (Balisacan 1993). While we define what is urban, we do not define what is rural It is a residual categorization that which is not urban is rural. Bahr and Mertins (1993), for example, estimate that the proportion of increase in the urban population resulting from migration (including reclassification) is around 43 percent in developing countries. But more important is the reality that classifying a place as urban rather than rural neither solves nor ends the rural problem. Rural-urban interactions are a fact of life evident in such trends as (1) rural poor moving to the cities to become the urban poor; (2) fanning that affects more families as a partial rather than main source of income; (3) nonfarm income (which could come from urban wage labor) becoming a part of the diversified livelihood strategy of many rural households; (4) rice income constituting less than 50 percent even in typical rice-dependent villages; (5) a considerable increase in importance of the role of remittances in the life of the rural household; (6) migration to urban areas (particularly female migration) contributing to the rural household's income, part of which is invested in farming; and (7) improved food production benefiting the urban poor through lower prices. Conversion of farmland for industrial and residential purposes impacts on both rural and urban areas. On the other hand, urban agriculture has become an important survival strategy for urban dwellers, particularly low-income ones. HIGHLIGHTSOF PROCEEDINGS 617 In the meantime, the content of international development dialogues and national development plans seems to have shifted away from agriculture, the rural poor and rural development toward the environment, urbanization and the urban poor. An illustration of this may be gleaned from the advice of the Dutch National AdvisoryCouncil for Development Cooperation: "The Council considers that the situation of many groups of urban poor is often more helpless than that of the rural poor, however difficult comparisons may be. In rural areas, the poor live in networks of family relationships, and economic ties change which can have a damaging impact such as that of the Green Revolution." The Council also pointed out that "attempts to prevent urban poverty by increasing prosperity in rural areas is a strategy that cannot succeed.''2 Obviously, the many studies which have been done onthe positive gains from agricultural growth and from rural-physical and soeio infrastructure have not communicated their message. Anyway, successful rural development always results in urban reclassification as per definition! But to treat rural poverty and urban poverty as discrete and separate phenomena is to be naive about their relationships. In order to partly overcome the bias against rural development arising from the technical flaw in the definition of urban area, we must look for the essence of rurality which, once done, will not automatically qualify a place for urban classification. Because rural communities have a natural resource base and since environmental degradation is associated with rural poverty and a higher level of out-migration, then the productive and sustainable management of natural resources and the institutional arrangements which make it possible should be the central concern of rural development, and indicators to this effect m_astbe developed. 2. National Advisory Council for Development Cooperation, Recommendation on Development Cooperation and Combating Urban Poverty. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, Netherlands, March 1994, No. 103, p. 3. 618 JOURNAL OF PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT Productivity, growth and income increases are inadequate indicators of rural development particularly if they have been achieved through the "mining" rather than "husbanding" of resources. A sustained, renewedand productive natural resource base achieved through viable institutional arrangements will not be antithetical to urban development but will be its strong underpinning. The challenge in this is very great indeed because it will require supportive policies, productive technologies, ecological literacy , innovative use and management of resources, creative structures for relating to each other, resolving conflicts, learning together, etc. In this regard, community-based resource management, and participatory approaches, among others, have been advocated and are actively being pursued but much more should be learned to make these operational on a larger scale. We cannot always count on traditional systems because the world has changed, and it is changing even more. We have to develop new traditions under new circumstances of population pressure, resource depletion and degradation. Regarding agriculture, Lundren points out the tendency to "treat natural resources as external to agriculture," hence many organizations have, as a result, different programs for agriculture and natural resources. The reality, he asserts, is that "the most intensive, widespread, important and potentially (and actually) most destructive form of natural resource management, and without any comparison in developing countries, is agriculture and related activities." The more correct statement, he concludes, is that -"nature is made up of natural resources and the most important form of natural resources management is agriculture." (Lundren 1993.) On agriculture ,fatigue," for example, after 30 _,ears there is a cloud in therice horizon. IRRI scientists have discovered a disturbing phenomenon: HIGHLIGHTS OF PROCEEDINGS 619 "Long-term experiments show that yields from irrigated fields that have continuously supported 2-3 rice crops a year have declined by as much as 40 percent over the past 25 years. This declining yield occurs in both high and low input systems both on and offthe IRRI Farm. 3 This and the preoccupation with sustainability issues is giving rise to very exciting developments in agricultural systems research. Some honestto-goodness interdisciplinary work is taking place. Let me cite two exampies. In pest management in rice, the simple recommendation of "no early Spraying" is being designed on the basis of science-based knowledge on the behavior of plants, insects and humans (Rapusas et al. 1994). Another is farmer participation in the varietal evaluation of sweet potato. Instead of starting from the breeding of new varieties, farmers are selecting from a screened collection of improved, local, imported, and traditional potatoes. In some instances, superior strains of degenerated but preferred varieties have been found, cleaned, regenerated, and given back to farmers (Rasco 1994). In the process we are discovering that indigenous/local knowledge, science and technology can come together productively and, hopefully, in a more sustained fashion. Furthermore, we have also found that subsistence production and commercialization are not opposite poles in a linear model but often occur simultaneously and in opportunistic combinations with nonfarm livelihood strategies. Plant genetic resources, farmers' rights, and intellectual property rights are very Contentious issues which require creative social science research beyond ideology. Agriculture, therefore, is not a finished task and will not go away simply because a higher proportion of the population has been classified as urban. The urban poor would become poorer if food production were to decline. In fact, agriculture has become much more complex, and thepeople dimension has become more demanding of the human intellect and the human spirit. It needs the best of science, including social science. 3. IRRI Hotline, Can we keep it up? IRRI-NARS Scientists Investigate Yield Decline, IRR1, Vol. 2. No. 6, June 1992. 620 JOURNALOF PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT Finally, let me thank PIDS, particularly Jennifer Liguton and her staff for putting this symposium together; IDRC for making the publication possible; and Randy Spence for being here. In PIDS, I have always found rigor and relevance (and will continue to expect these); in ]DRC, I learned internationality and humanity in development perspective. To be honored by colleagues with such excellent papers is reward enough. It makes all those years and the coming ones worthwhile indeed! in the golden girls, I found a lifetime of loyal friendships hard to duplicate anywhere. Ateneo de Manila made me part of the culture of Tao Para sa Kapwa (a man for his fellowmen) in giving me an konoris causa. The University of the Philippines gave me the freedom to be free, to define and do what I have chosen to do. To President Emil Q. Javier, the "University in the Service of the Nation" is a laudable vision but I would modify it slightly to say: The University should lead the nation for it is in leading that it serves but it has to earn its right to lead through excellence. Thank you all for making my day! HIGHLIGHTS OF PROCEEDINGS 621 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bahr, J. and G. Mertins. Urbanization in Latin America: Applied Geography and Development, Vol. 4, 1993, pp. 89-109. Balisacan, A. "Rural Development in the Philippines: Patterns, Constraints and Responses." Paper presented at the Symposium on Structures and Reforms for Rural Development in the Philippines, AIT Hotel, Quezon City, March 17, 1993. Lundren, B. Sustainable Management of Natural Resources. Repor t prepared for SIDA, Stockholm, Sweden, May 27, 1993. Rapusas, H.R., C. Dedolph, M. M. Escalada and K. L. Heong. Workshop Report: Message Design for a Campaign to Encourage Farmers' Participation in Experimenting Insecticide Spraying in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Rice IPM Network, May 25-28, 1994. Rasco, E. T. Jr. Coordinators'Report, 1993-94, Southeast Asian Program for Potato Research and Development. Los Bafios, Laguna, Philippines, SAPPRAD, 1994.