CLARK FREEPORT – All is not lost for farmers with the El Niňo weather phenomenon now affecting the Philippines.
“Farmers should not despair,” former Candaba mayor and two term Pampanga Mayors’ League president Jerry Pelayo said during the Balitaan media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. at the Bale Balita here last Friday.
Pelayo said his group, composed of private individuals, is now looking for farmers with lands that can be planted with “edamame beans” which require very little water and are not affected with the prolonged heat.
He said they got a $5 million purchase order from Japan for edamame beans.
Pelayo explained that the farmers will be like contract growers who will be provided by their group with the seedlings and capital. After harvest, he said, their group would buy the produce.
“That is why we are now going around to find out what the farmers’ expertise are because if you are farming tilapia, you cannot plant edamame. It’s not your line of work but if you are planting munggo (soy) or you plant sitaw (legumes) you know edamame,” Pelayo said.
According to Wikipedia, edamame are young soybeans, usually still in the pod. Because the beans are young and green when they are picked, edamame soybeans are soft and edible, not hard and dry like the mature soybeans which are used to make soy milk and tofu.
Pelayo said farmers with idle lands are especially encouraged to plant edamame beans if rice is not suitable to plant anymore.
“The farmers will have a ready market. We will be the one to put up a processing plant and other logistics. It will be a partnership between the farmers and our group,” he explained.
“Dapat kung mainit huwag ka nang magtanim ng palay. Magtanim ka na kailangan ng init. These are the beans, munggo, edamame (If the weather is already hot, don’t plant rice anymore. Plant something that needs the warmth…),” he said.
“Kaya hindi palaging water ang problema. Dapat may alternative na crop na pwedi mong itanim (That is why lack of water is not always a problem. There should be alternative crops that you can plant),” he explained.
“Edamame requires very little water and in fact, it really needs the heat of the sun,” he said.
Pelayo said edamame beans planted in the Philippines are far better in quality than those planted in Taiwan which makes our country the best place to plant them.
Meanwhile, Pelayo said he is one of the convenors of the Agricultural Growth through Industry and Leadership by the Private Sector for Acceleration of Modernization and Industrialization (Agila) which called for an agricultural summit in November last year.
The People’s Agricultural Summit organized by Agila was held at the Pampanga State Agricultural University in Magalang town.
Pelayo said Agila’s main objective is to gather data.
“We conducted a summit where no government officials were invited,” he said. “Our objective is to gather data on farmers, their produce, livestock, fruit bearing trees, aquaculture…”
Pelayo said they also tackled problems facing the financial aspect of agriculture. “The billions of pesos released for water pumps, harvesters, planters, dryers… They sell them and had them rented to the private sector,” he lamented.
“My recommendation is to buy the farm implements only once and then lend them to farmers for free who will return them after they finished using them,” he said. “Bring them back to the motor pool so that they can be used again.”
“Every year we buy these farm implements, but where are they now?” he asked. “What happened? Where is the inventory?”
The problem is with the system, he noted. “It’s the system because every administration has the framework c hanged. It is not continued.”
That is why it is also important to educate farmers on financial literacy, he said. “Education, especially financial literacy should be taught where students will be housed in dormitories especially those who are from far off places.”
Extension schools of agricultural colleges and universities should be put up in cities and municipalities so that farmers and their children can easily go there, he said.
