CABANATUAN CITY – A convergence of various organizations of farmers in Central Luzon on Friday, June 5, expressed concern over the dwindling agricultural lands that causes food crisis as they launched the Save the Rice Granary Movement (SGRM) at the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology here.
Former Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael Mariano said unabated land conversion remains to be the biggest culprit in the recurring food crisis.
“Unang-una masasabi nating ang agrikultura ng bansa ay parating nasa krisis kung kaya’t meron tayong krisis sa pagkain na bahagi ng krisis ng buong ekonomiya ng bansa,” Mariano said.
A former secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform and co-convenor of SRGM, Mariano said they are pushing for at least two years moratorium on granting land conversion permits.
Instead, he said, the government should make free distribution of land to landless farmers as at least 7 out of 10 agricultural workers have no land of their own. The government has yet to recognize agriculture as the foundation of the nation’s economy, he added.
Besides malls, subdivisions and industrial parks, projects in energy, aviation and infrastructure are feared to further cut agricultural areas throughout Central and Northern Luzon.
In Guimba town, an aviation hub to be established by private firm Clarke Aerospace & Technical Services Inc. is feared to eat up at least 200 hectares from the farming fields of Barangay Pacac, according to Pol Alcantara of Ugnayan para sa Libreng Serbisyo sa Irigasyon.
The project which is currently under review by the Sangguniang Bayan of Guimba will be used for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, manufacturing and assembly plant for airplanes from different countries, based on information gathered by Alcantara’s group.
Roy Manuzon, head of Kalinga sa Kalikasan ng Puncan, said both the forest and farmlands downstream of Pantabangan Dam are threatened by the proposed windmill energy contract on more than 4,000 hectares of watershed area, mostly within Talavera Watershed Forest Reserve.
The project which is undergoing public consultation and feasibility study traverses the municipalities of Lupao with 30 units of wind tower, San Jose with four, and Carranglan with 14 for a total of 48 wind towers to generate 300 megawatts of electricity, Manuzon said.
In Pangasinan, 37,000 hectares have reportedly been converted into various uses, including commercial, residential and infrastructure, according to a farmer-leader.
In Bataan, Cecilio Lungcay, head of a provincial consultative body, assailed the alleged massive conversion of lands to commercial use, including huge warehouses and alleged proliferation of illegal business such as cooking oil and cigarettes.
“Lahat po ng illegal,” he said.
The SGRM launch was participated in by farmers, workers, youth and students, church people, educators, scientists, health workers, environmental defenders, and land reform and food security advocates from the Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Zambales.
