For more than ten years, our founder started his journey to what he called a surprise visit from the past. In this journey, he started to tell a story of his childhood dream of living on a farm with an abundance of food, including green leafy vegetables such as alugbati (Malabar Spinach), maligoso leaves (mollugo glinoides), and pako leaves. He noted that probably 99% of Filipino youth today have never seen and eaten those kinds of vegetables. “Gatas ng Kalabaw”(carabao milk) with rice in the morning, “tinolang manok sa tanghali” (native chicken soup for lunch) with fresh papaya while in the afternoon he goes fishing bringing the “pamingwit” (Fishing Rod) to catch some tilapia in an open pond. He talks about all the creatures in the farms from dragonflies, spider, alitaptap, edible frog and rat farms, curl snail and kuliglig (cricket) and many more. He used to plant kamote, talong, ampalaya and patani in their backyard when he was 8 years old. Then he started to talk about his relatives in Nueva Ecija who became part of his life because most of his cousins became professionals in agriculture. Activating his thoughts, he finally asked our team to work on knowing the status of agriculture in the Philippines, then our life and advocacy begin…

Is agriculture in the Philippines dying? Our research concluded. But our founder believed that agriculture is still a viable contributor to the economy through its numerous high valueproducts for the global market. We start working on the solutions, finding the right formula to evolved and put it on to action. We have enough knowledge and people who can bring all the solutions, so let’s activate.

We should start looking forward to methods of production and distribution. We must consider a complete overhaul to correct the supply chain. The lack of storage and processing facilities, packaging materials, infrastructures, and dysfunctional regulatory standards for local produce must be reestablished. In order to revitalize the agricultural sector, the private sector should work hand and hand with the government to deliver what work needs to be done. Quality of agricultural produce should begin at the pre-harvest stage and up to the end of cultivation stage. This is an important parameter in reducing losses at the end of the supply chain. Crops should identify the challenges in the field as well as the cultivation practices during the pre-harvest. In The Philippines, high value crops like fruits and vegetables should maintain proper handling due to temperature and humidity.

Postharvest related technologies should be developed to improve crop production especially for high value crops. The distribution system should be developed from the farmer to the consumer and it should be improved to create a continuous cycle of food from the farmers. Developing a processing unit or system from farm level should be promoted to reduce food losses due to overproduction during peak season and to preserve agricultural produce to improve shelf life. Postharvest handling should not end at extending the shelf life before it reaches the consumer. Facilitation of value adding should be considered to offer the consumers a new perspective of developing their crop to process crops agricultural produce. We must start engaging our youth in agriculture through Information and communication technologies. We need to develop an organization that would measure the needs of youth today and what they want, an organization that would mold their enthusiasm to become the partner of the future of agriculture in the Philippines. Our team energy is fueled by thousands of farmers who believed in our dream to bring the Philippine agriculture in prosperity. We are Filipinos, our bloodline goes beyond our heroes, and soon we will start a new battle to realize and nurture the rich natural resources in our own land