AT the height of the enhanced community quarantine, a group of farmers from Tarlac were worried where to sell corn harvest that they cultivated for four or five months.
The Covid-19 pandemic has stirred massive fear among farmers not only about the health and safety of their families, but their livelihood and future.
Photos of tons of tomatoes and other crops going to waste have been circulating in social media due to lack of transport services.
Agriculture-entrepreneur James Amparo received distressed calls from farmers in Tarlac who are part of his agri program. They were anxious if his company will continue with its commitment to purchase their products. With the imposition of nationwide quarantine, farmers were afraid they could not sell their harvest due to closure of markets and suspension of transport services.
Last month, Amparo hurdled multiple checkpoints from barangays, municipal and provincial levels to meet the farmers and bought their harvest totaling 1.5 million kilograms of corn.
“Farmers should be concentrating on how to improve their produce, there should be a way to help them effectively market their produce. Farmers should just concentrate on producing good harvest and not be burdened with selling,” said Amparo, president and chief executive officer of Yovel East Research and Development.
In the last five years, Yovel East has been helping farmers in Tarlac and Pampanga to increase production and marketability of produce through technology and innovation.
He said providing end-to-end assistance to farmers is critical to secure high yields at a low cost and provide income opportunities to farmers and their families.
Amparo witnessed the difficulties of farmers through his grandfather who tended a small farm in Atimonan, Quezon.
Farmers are among the poorest people in the Philippines. In 2015, farmers ranked first among nine basic sectors with highest incidence of poverty at 34.3 percent at the national level, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
He said the hierarchical system of farming to rice retailing does not benefit farmers but only perpetuates poverty among them.
The farmers harvest palay that are wet and buyers dry them so they can sell by bulk before turning to rice mills. The second buyer sell the milled rice to wholesalers, who, then sell rice to retailers. These retailers are the ones who sell to consumers.
“Farmers need to be supported with the right technology and innovation so they can improve their harvest and ensure buyers for the produce eventually earn better for their families,” said Amparo.
Yovel East provides assistance to farmers who manage 300 hectares of land in Tarlac and Pampanga provinces through access to seeds, fertilizer and cash assistance to cover labor cost.
“Our agriculture engineers also provide technical support for land preparation and farm monitoring to ensure better harvest,” he said.
The company was established in 2009 to promote sustainable farming through technology and innovation and to provide marketing platforms to help farmers sell their produce.
Amparo said cutting the layers of transactions for farmers can secure high yields and lower the cost of production. “Yovel has proven this, and the success rate is 99 percent.”
Yovel East, a family-run research and development firm, also conducts seminars on farming technology and innovative techniques to help farmers increase yields and improve the marketability of produce.
The farmers are also being supported with seeds, fertilizer, land preparation, machinery and cash for labor cost.
Amparo said there should be collaboration between local government units and the private sector in providing a market platform for the farmers’ yields.
He said the pandemic has opened the eyes of many people to the situation of farmers and their dependence on assured market for their harvest as many farmers were forced to throw away their harvest.
“Building a strong support to farmers will ensure increase of yields, better price for agriculture products that will benefit farmers and consumers,” said Amparo.
1 comment