Teodoro to make farming an honorable profession

from The Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/regions/9536-teodoro-to-make-farming-an-honorable-profession

Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats presidential candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. Tuesday vowed to boost the agricultural sector with greater investment and financial support in order to transform farming into an “honorable and profitable” profession.

Farming is a key to achieving food security and hastening the country’s industrialization, Teodoro said, as he stressed the need for state investments and incentives to Filipino farmers “so that they can make a good living out of the soil, thus encouraging their sons to follow in their footsteps.”

Teodoro said rural communities could benefit from a credit facility for farmers who are looking to expand their operations, and the building and extension of irrigation infrastructures and farm-to-market roads.

“Only when we succeed in providing these prerequisites to our farmers will our country be able to experience food security and get out of the maws of poverty,” he stressed.

In addition to cash and infrastructure support, Teodoro said the country’s scientists engaged in research and development must develop quick-growing rice varieties and fruit crops that will bring the most financial benefits to the farmer groups.

“They [scientists] must be like Luther Burbank [the famous agronomist] who managed to develop quick-growing and fruiting crops that aided greatly in the development of the United States’ agricultural industry,” he said.

Earlier, Teodoro advocated a Marshall-plan type of economic package that would modernize its irrigation system and build a network of farm-to-market roads to boost the agricultural productivity of Maguindanao province.

Noting that Maguindanao has some of the most fertile farming lands in Mindanao, Teodoro said developing and expanding the province’s irrigation facilities to cover more acreage is a key to unlocking its economic potential that could double or triple its current agricultural yield.

He said the necessary road and communications infrastructure support should also be put in place to boost agricultural productivity and enable farmer groups to market their products in the nearest population centers in the province and region.

“By providing farmer groups in the region with irrigation and infrastructure support, we are reducing poverty Maguindanao, which is the primary trigger of violence and crime in the province, thus ensuring peace for the coming generations,” Teodoro said.

He also urged the national government to provide the province’s indigenous tribes and marginalized sector with livelihood assistance to enable them to support their families through decent means and steer them away from lawlessness.

He said that he had urged the stationing of peace-keeping units in Maguindanao as a temporary measure to “preserve the gains of peace.”

He said that this approach proved successful in rehabilitating war-ravaged Japan in 1945 and in neutralizing the Communist threat in the Philippines in 1950s.

“The Marshall Plan approach has proven very successful in eradicating violence in society ravaged by generations of fighting. If properly implemented in Maguindanao, people living in the region could do their part in helping the country achieve economy stability and greatness,” Teodoro said.