NAGA CITY — Sen. Francis Pangilinan urged stakeholders to embrace smart agriculture and climate-resilient solutions to secure the nation’s food supply.
Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, said that knowledge is power, emphasizing the transformative potential of technology for farmers and fisherfolk alike.
”If we want to have an ample food supply, we must mobilize resources toward the weakest link and provide them with capacity, with technology, with organization, with extension service,” the senator said in his keynote address during the 10th ClickConEx: Convergence of Luzon I.C.T. Champions and Exhibitions in Naga City on Friday.
He noted that through technology, farmers and fisherfolk could easily access information about weather forecasts, pest warnings, market prices and planting advice through smartphones.
Pangilinan added that information and communications technology can directly connect producers to consumers through a seamless, digitally enabled supply chain.
The senator allayed fears that the use of technology in agriculture would replace traditional methods. Rather, he said it would build on generations of Indigenous and farming knowledge — from farmers who have passed down wisdom about nature and planting to fisherfolk who best understand the rhythm of the sea — and be strengthened by science, data and technology.
He said reestablishing the Bureau of Agriculture Cooperatives would strengthen farmers’ and fisherfolk’s capacity to organize themselves and compete effectively. As a cooperative, they can buy inputs at lower prices, access credit more easily, invest in equipment and machinery, process their product and negotiate better prices in the market.
”What is the point of technology if our food producers, farmers and fisherfolk are not organized? Whatever interventions are made by national and local governments, if farmers and fisherfolk are not organized and capacitated, any intervention will not be sustainable,” Pangilinan said.
”The lessons of superpowers in agriculture in the region are that they have strong, organized farming and fishing cooperatives, regulations and associations,” the senator said, pertaining to Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand.
