By Hilarion M. Henares Jr.
SIXTO K. ROXAS III, Ateneo valedictorian and Harvard graduate with distinction, wonder boy of the 1960s and my predecessor as Chairman of the National Economic Council, father of the Money Market in the Philippines, ninong of my youngest son and a cousin of a cousin, is one of those rare geniuses with brains practically oozing out of his ears...
We were both invited to Puerto Azul by Speaker Ramon Mitra to speak before a selected group of legislators...
Contrary to what American advisers say -- that ours is an agricultural country with large areas of arable lands suited for plantation farming -- the Philippines is land-poor, with a population density of 483 persons per square mile as against Australia's 5.4, USA’s 66, China’s 284, Japan’s 833, South Korea’s 1,094, Taiwan’s 1,396.
The farmer's income per hectare is P3,587 in the Philippines; in Japan it is P180,000 per hectare; in South Korea, P128,000; in Taiwan, P108,000; in China, P50,000.
The Filipino farmer is poor because he utilizes land as if he lives in land-rich countries like Australia and the USA where large plantations abound. He must realize that he should use his land for intensive farming like the land-poor countries of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
One hectare of land which in 1970 supported three persons, now has to support five. The bottom 20 percent of our population contributed two percent of the total income in 1985; 90 percent of farmers are below the poverty line.
Percent utilization of labor is 7 percent for corn lands; 10 percent for coconut; 14 percent for sugarcane; and 42 percent for palay.
Ting Roxas is appalled at the inefficiency of land use in an export-oriented agriculture like Coconut which employs 25 percent of the households, 35 percent of the agricultural lands, and contributes only 3.6 percent of the total GNP. Here land productivity is only P1,600 per hectare.
In order to raise coconut household income above the poverty line, we have to increase exports to five times current levels! But historically export demand has been decreasing.
Economic development supported by the Americans and the World Bank, according to Ting, has been oriented to sectoral development by large firms and large plantations, by which farmers earn marginal incomes. For instance in Guimaras Island where Atlas Fertilizer has a mango project, farmers are displaced from their lands and a few of them are given work in the plantation and processing plant.
Ting suggests as an alternative an eco-system development based on domestic production for domestic consumption where the land is intensively cultivated for intercropping and crop rotation, supplemented by the raising of domestic animals.
For instance, the coconut farm of three hectares can also produce 160 heads of chicken broilers, and okra, tomatoes, corn, cassava and cow-peas that will raise family income to P30,000 a year. In addition, 160 of these farms can give rise to an integrated coconut feed and oil production plant processing 1,280,000 coconuts per year and providing for 100 persons an income of P25,000 a year. A capital of P6 million can generate P8.85 million income a year, an internal rate of return of 92 percent per annum; and provide feeds for the livestock industry.
Ting presents modules of development also for riceland (family income P38,500 a year); fruit orchards (additional P7,430 per family) and a fruit processing plant (P25,000 per year for 241 persons); rice-chicken-goats (P55,000 per family) and a broiler processing-hatchery (P50,000 a year for 204 persons).
For a total investment of P573.3 million, Ting's eco-systems can generate a net income of P233.4 million, plant salaries of P33 million, and farm income of P576 million -- a total impact on the GNP of P854 million... (October 26, 1988)
The farmer's income per hectare is P3,587 in the Philippines; in Japan it is P180,000 per hectare; in South Korea, P128,000; in Taiwan, P108,000; in China, P50,000.
The Filipino farmer is poor because he utilizes land as if he lives in land-rich countries like Australia and the USA where large plantations abound. He must realize that he should use his land for intensive farming like the land-poor countries of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
One hectare of land which in 1970 supported three persons, now has to support five. The bottom 20 percent of our population contributed two percent of the total income in 1985; 90 percent of farmers are below the poverty line.
Percent utilization of labor is 7 percent for corn lands; 10 percent for coconut; 14 percent for sugarcane; and 42 percent for palay.
Ting Roxas is appalled at the inefficiency of land use in an export-oriented agriculture like Coconut which employs 25 percent of the households, 35 percent of the agricultural lands, and contributes only 3.6 percent of the total GNP. Here land productivity is only P1,600 per hectare.
In order to raise coconut household income above the poverty line, we have to increase exports to five times current levels! But historically export demand has been decreasing.
Economic development supported by the Americans and the World Bank, according to Ting, has been oriented to sectoral development by large firms and large plantations, by which farmers earn marginal incomes. For instance in Guimaras Island where Atlas Fertilizer has a mango project, farmers are displaced from their lands and a few of them are given work in the plantation and processing plant.
Ting suggests as an alternative an eco-system development based on domestic production for domestic consumption where the land is intensively cultivated for intercropping and crop rotation, supplemented by the raising of domestic animals.
For instance, the coconut farm of three hectares can also produce 160 heads of chicken broilers, and okra, tomatoes, corn, cassava and cow-peas that will raise family income to P30,000 a year. In addition, 160 of these farms can give rise to an integrated coconut feed and oil production plant processing 1,280,000 coconuts per year and providing for 100 persons an income of P25,000 a year. A capital of P6 million can generate P8.85 million income a year, an internal rate of return of 92 percent per annum; and provide feeds for the livestock industry.
Ting presents modules of development also for riceland (family income P38,500 a year); fruit orchards (additional P7,430 per family) and a fruit processing plant (P25,000 per year for 241 persons); rice-chicken-goats (P55,000 per family) and a broiler processing-hatchery (P50,000 a year for 204 persons).
For a total investment of P573.3 million, Ting's eco-systems can generate a net income of P233.4 million, plant salaries of P33 million, and farm income of P576 million -- a total impact on the GNP of P854 million... (October 26, 1988)
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