BALANGA CITY — Re-elected Senator Cynthia Villar on Friday asked new graduates from a Bataan university to consider venturing into agri-business and farm tourism.
She said that the Philippines being an agricultural country, it is to everyone’s interest to have the continuous growth of agriculture.
“We cannot live without food. We should help our poor farmers and fishermen get out of poverty and to produce cheap and good products,” she said.
She quoted studies that some years from now, there will be shortage of food.
“To the graduates, you should help in producing more food so as not to suffer hunger and shortage of food in your lifetime,” the senator said.
Villar wants to continue being chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food. She got the highest number of votes in Bataan and the country in the just-concluded midterm elections.
She said that majority of the graduates will look for good jobs. “The hard reality is some will get employment but others will not because of lack of job opportunities.”
The senator said that the country still faces big problem on unemployment and underemployment. “Pero hindi lang naman paghahanap ng trabaho ang option. There is always the option to go into small businesses.”
She said that capitalization is not a problem with many lending institutions offering financial assistance. Capitalization can also come from small savings, she said. “Ang kailangan ay sipag at tiyaga,” she said.
