Hunger knocks on door as Philippine farmers vanish

By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter

LA UNION — Jerry M. Abat, 60, has been planting rice since he could walk.

The farmer from the surf town of San Juan, La Union province in northern Philippines has spent most of his life under the sun, working with his back bent, feet soaked in muddy water, while goading a carabao to plow and harrow the rice paddy.

Now, he said, technology has taken over with advanced tractors and machinery, mostly donated by government bodies.

“Farming is really a difficult job,” Mr. Abat, who had spent some time with his crops before sitting down for an interview — the dirt under his short fingernails was still visible — told BusinessWorld.

“That’s why, if possible, I didn’t want my children to end up like me, wading through the mud.”

Mr. Abat has sent his four kids to college, thanks to his hard work as a farmer. His children, like many others from farming families, have sought employment overseas or in offices where work is easier and pays more.

Two of his children now work in the United Arab Emirates — one in the hospitality industry and another as a medical technologist. His eldest, however, helps with farming, making the patriarch feel a sense of pride and relief, knowing that at least one of his children is willing to carry on his legacy.

The average age of Filipino rice farmers is 56 and climbing, and analysts predict a critical shortage of farmers in the next decade as young people show less interest in agriculture, threatening food security.

The problem is compounded by increasing farm input costs. Fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and irrigation systems are becoming more expensive, eating away at farmers’ modest profits.

Mr. Abat, who inherited his farmland from his parents, said the average cost of production per hectare of rice increased from P65,000 in 2023 to P75,000 in 2024, but his income has been stagnant.

On top of this, the price of unmilled rice remains low, fluctuating between P20 and P22 per kilo, a stark contrast to high retail prices in urban markets. He laments the fact that middlemen and traders profit more than those who cultivate the land.

“When we sell unmilled rice, the price is low,” he said. “But when we buy rice in the market, the price is high.”

Inflation in the Philippines dropped to its lowest level in nearly five years in March, with the annual rate easing to 1.8% due to slower increases in food and transport costs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. This was down from 2.1% in February and 3.7% a year ago.

For the first quarter, average inflation stood at 2.2%, comfortably within the central bank’s 2-4% target range.

The government of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., declared a “food security emergency” on rice last month due to persistently high prices despite global price reductions and lower tariffs on rice imports last year.

The Philippines faced a surge in hunger rates in December 2024, with more than a quarter of Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger — the worst since September 2020 at the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns, according to the Social Weather Stations.

PSA data showed agriculture and forestry lost the most workers year on year, shedding almost 950,000 jobs in February, mainly due to several typhoons that devastated farmlands.

Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul, executive director at the University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness, said fewer people work on farms given low wages and rural-urban migration.

“Many shift to off-farm jobs in cities, while mechanization, land conversion and climate risks make farming less viable,” she said in a Viber message.

The decline in Filipino farmers threatens food security and increases reliance on imports, she pointed out.  “To sustain agriculture, the country must attract young farmers, modernize farming and improve rural livelihoods.” 

Ms. Dacul also cited the need to secure farmlands, strengthen rural-urban connections and diversify the economy to keep the farming sector resilient amid the exodus of people to the cities.

“Investing in mechanization, smart farming and climate-resilient techniques, along with regenerative farming practices, vertical farming and stronger food supply chains will help ensure long-term sustainability,” she added.

The Philippine agriculture sector is struggling with slow growth, declining productivity and structural inefficiencies, according to a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) report by economist Roehlano M. Briones published in December 2021.

Farm sizes have been shrinking, leaving little room for expansion.  The country’s arable land was estimated at 12.44 million hectares, according to the PIDS study, citing data from the Food and Agriculture Organization.

“Agriculture was the biggest employer of the economy in the mid-1990s but has since given way to services,” according to the study. “Its share in employment has been consistently declining.”

TURNING THE TIDE
The government should raise the productivity of farm workers to keep the sector competitive, Mr. Briones said.

“The correlation between average daily basic pay and level of education tends to be stronger in industry and services than agriculture,” he said in the study. “It may well be the case that the long-term movement of workers out of agriculture represents the better educated trying to realize higher returns on human capital investment.” 

The report recommended governance reforms, investments in research, improved credit access, mechanization, irrigation improvements, and trade liberalization. The state should also shift support from subsidies to long-term investments in public goods, Mr. Briones said.

Jayson H. Cainglet, executive director at the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), said the key to encouraging future generations to pursue careers in agriculture lies in guaranteeing fair and sustainable wages.

“You can only really attract young farmers if they can earn something,” he said by telephone. “You can’t romanticize farming by saying, ‘Oh, the country needs you for food security, for food self-sufficiency.’”

“That kind of idealism doesn’t put food on the table. Farmers are discouraged when they experience low farmgate prices after investing months of hard work without guaranteed returns,” he added.

The situation is compounded by the country’s increasing reliance on food imports, driving down the prices of local produce.

Mr. Cainglet noted that the Philippines, once a top rice exporter, is now the world’s biggest importer of the staple. As a result, local millers could no longer compete with the lower landed cost of imported rice, leaving Filipino farmers at a disadvantage, he said.

He urged the government to offer farmers low-interest loans since they are often at the mercy of their creditors. “But the real problem is that the government often says we don’t have enough funds. Still, we have to start somewhere,” he added.   

He said the state could help farmers by guaranteeing them a floor price. For example, if tomato and onion prices drop below P15, the government should step in to buy the produce or at least compensate them at some point.   

While technology is making farming less labor-intensive and more efficient, the real game-changer is proving that there is a rewarding future in agriculture, Mr. Cainglet said. Without this assurance, young people will shun the industry.

“That’s the only way to turn the tide,” he said. “There’s no shortcut or magic formula here.”

Mr. Cainglet recalled how the COVID-19 pandemic showed that there are only two essential professions — healthcare and agriculture. Despite the hard lessons of the pandemic, he lamented how quickly the world forgot how important the farm sector is. 

“The mindset really starts with the farmers themselves,” he said. “They should be the one encouraging their children or siblings to continue farming.”

Fifty-year-old Rodel J. Macato, who works on a farm adjacent to Mr. Abat’s, is proud of having toiled under the sun so he could send his kids to college. His eldest daughter now works as the village secretary, while his son is studying to become a marine engineer.

“We are the backbone of the country,” he told BusinessWorld in Filipino. “Once we’re gone, what happens to the country’s food supply?”