Shared by Bruce Tolentino on Facebook, that is the considered opinion of Calixto V Chikiamco in a 1505-worded article, count including the title (04 Feb 2022, “What The Economy Needs Is Oxygen,” The Diarist, TheDiarist.ph). Mr Chikiamco writes his piece based on a compilation of articles by himself, plus 5 others. He explains:
No, the Philippine economy doesn’t need oxygen because of a COVID-induced pneumonia, although the metaphor could still apply given the severe economic recession caused by the pandemic.
The Philippines needs oxygen because it’s suffocating from the dominance of monopolies and oligopolies in many industries. It is the most concentrated economy in Asia.
As an agriculturist (UP '65) and not an economist (BSA major in Ag Edu), I am not going to discuss or contest Mr Chikiamco’s contention of PH economy choking; what I would like to do is discuss:
How the Philippine economy can be unchoked– to coin a word – by visiting the countryside and liberating those tens of millions of farms from the imprisonment of Chemical Agriculture!
Why PH Agriculture, not Economy? Agriculture is the #1 PH industry, what with millions of warm bodies involved.
Chemicals applied in agriculture adversely affect farmers & food consumers thus:
(1) Chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides are very expensive.
(2) Their crops grown with chemicals, farmers harvest not-that-healthy food for our consumption.
Moreover, those farm chemicals contribute greenhouse gases (GHGs) much, starting from their manufacture to long after their use in agriculture.
Additionally, when you liberate the countryside from Chemical Agriculture (CA), you liberate farmers from imprisonment by merchants and traders, those selling inputs expensively and those buying outputs cheaply. From seeds to spoon, farmers are losers from beginning to end!
What happens if all 10 million Filipino farmers suddenly stopped practicing CA and started practicing organic agriculture (OA)? Unhappily, manufacturers of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides will lose billions of pesos; happily, those millions of hectares will suddenly experience natural soil wealth, necessary for growing healthy foods. Additionally and automatically, those farms will also be enlivened by fresh air – the oxygen that the Philippines needs, Mr Chikiamco. Healthy foods, healthy air that even economists will thank God for!
(image of organic farm from Traveloka)
And yes, when you liberate the countryside from Chemical Agriculture, you are liberating it from Climate Change!
Without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, there are no more GHGs that farms will emit to the air and contribute to climate change – certainly, the economic price of a healthy agriculture is beyond measure and beyond compare!
I’m sorry, Mr Chikiamco, but my proposal for 100% organic farming for the Philippines will take the oxygen out of your proposal to “let foreign companies provide competition” in relation to the growing of crops and raising of animals.
What the Philippine economy needs is oxygen – from billions beautiful, breathing breaks in millions of farms!@517
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