Philippines to put billions toward agriculture

The Philippine government announced more money to fight the agriculture crisis, raising funding 40% over 2021. About €3.3 billion ($3.3 billion) will be allocated for agriculture, which has been designated one of the government's top five budget priorities, alongside education, infrastructure, the health sector, and social protection.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. aims to transform agriculture "from being an economic laggard to one of the main drivers for growth and employment," officials said in a statement. In June, the new president named himself agriculture minister.

Experts welcomed the funding hike with cautious optimism, pointing to devastating losses suffered by farmers from natural disasters. These loses have worsened in recent years due to climate change.

Climate is key

The economist Jan Carlo Punongbayan told DW that the way to help agriculture is to fight the climate crisis.

"Unless the government puts climate change mitigation and management to the fore, agriculture will continue to be in the doldrums in decades to come," Punongbayan said. 

Situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is one of the of the most disaster-hit countries in the world. The country experiences an average of 20 typhoons each year. 

According to government data, the country's agricultural output shrank last year by about 2.6% after a decline in crops caused by adverse weather conditions. This comes against the background of international experts, such as the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warning that stronger typhoons and longer dry spells are likely to massively disrupt agriculture worldwide and cause chronic food insecurity.

Harvest 'literally washed away'

The environmentalist Ryan Bestre told DW that farmers in the Philippines do not get adequate government support in the form of subsidies and insurance to recover from natural disasters. 

"Their harvest and everything they have worked so hard for is literally washed away. Before they can even recover, another typhoon comes," Bestre said. The activist is the founder of I Am Hampas Lupa, an organization that advocates for elevating the stature of farming by addressing the links between agriculture, climate change and mindful food consumption.

"Our farmers, among the poorest of society, are the ones continuously whipped by the effects of climate change over and over again," Bestre said. |Where is the justice in that?"

According to the Climate Risk Index, the Philippines is the  fifth-most-affected country in the world by climate change, but only contributes about 0.3% of global emissions. 

Activists push for climate justice

Bestre and other environmental advocates are calling for "climate justice" and demanding accountability from the big corporations they say are responsible for climate change. 

"Climate justice is when Filipinos and other climate-impacted communities around the world are protected with laws and that corporations responsible for climate change are held accountable," said Virginia Benosa-Llorin, from Greenpeace Philippines. 

"Filipinos are at the front lines of a climate emergency," she said.

In May, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) released its National Inquiry on Climate Change report. In the report, they called for enacting laws to curb corporations and businesses from committing human rights abuses.

"The impacts of climate change are cross-cutting among sectors and on the whole gamut of human rights, such as the rights to life, health, water, sanitation, education and healthy environment," Roberto Cadiz, a former CHR commissioner who headed the inquiry, told DW. 

"The issue of climate change is also an issue of climate justice, where those who contribute least to it are affected most by it," Cadiz told DW. 

Philippines running out of farmers

Agriculture in the Philippines also faces another issue: image. The average Filipino farmer is 57-59 years old. Last year, the Department of Agriculture warned that declining employment in the agricultural sector combined with the aging of farmers would contribute to a critical shortage of farmers in just 12 years. 

But there are also youth groups who want to change the image of farming so that it doesn't appear to be only for the old and the poor. 

"The climate crisis is the defining crisis of our generation," Antonio Flores, from Farm Lab, told DW.

Flores' NGO works with farmers to implement techniques that are less damaging to the environment.

"Agriculture and our farming communities will be the hardest hit, but it also has immense potential to regenerate the earth," Flores said.

Youth sector infusing hope in agriculture 

Activists such as Norhaya Vasquez Demacaling focus on educating a generation of what they call agri-entrepreneurs: a new kind of Filipino farmers.

Demacaling is campus director for School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development, which aims to train thousands of students at three locations across the Philippines by 2024.

The 29-year-old told DW that climate change has had an impact on the sustainability of farming as a job."The loss of income from farming contributes to the lack of confidence among local growers. Their children, who are expected to replace them, are avoiding agriculture-related careers because they see it as a one-way ticket to poverty," Demacaling said.

Government data show that in 2018 the number of Filipinos working in the agriculture sector sank to 9.9 million, the lowest total since 1995. The Philippines is home to about 110 million people.

"Through agri-entrepreneurship, we can make farming and agriculture fun, sexy, exciting and profitable," Demacaling said.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic