Senator Cynthia Villar is batting for the creation of more farm schools in the country to be supported by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“Bibigyan natin ng 1,855 farm schools all over the Philippines or one farm school in every town kung saan tuturuan ang magsasaka na magkaroon ng pag-iisip na parang negosyante (We will provide 1,855 farm schools all over the Philippines or one farm school in every town where our farmers will be taught to have minds like businessmen),” Villar, who is the exponent of “Hanepbuhay”, said.
The seasoned legislator said farmers should be able to think of what to plant to avoid oversupply or undersupply of products and to learn how to grow a variety of crops.
“Farmers should be able to think of what to plant to avoid oversupply or undersupply of products.”
“Magtanim ng hindi pare-pareho o gaya-gaya. Kailangan may iba-ibang tanim para hindi sumusobra ang ani. Parang law of supply and demand na kapag oversupply ang produkto, nagmumura (Do not plant the same crops. There should be variety of crops to avoid oversupply of yields. It is like law of supply and demand that if there is an oversupply of products, the price goes down),” the veteran lawmaker said.
“Halos 40 percent ng budget ng Department of Agriculture ay sa National Irrigation Authority so dapat pagbutihin nila pagtatrabaho (Almost 40 percent of the budget of the Department of Agriculture is for National Irrigation Authority, thus they should work well),” the lady senator said when informed that many farmers still use costly diesel-fed water pumps to irrigate their crops.
She added that farm mechanization has a huge budget, part of which pushes for the use of solar irrigation.
“Farm mechanization has a huge budget, part of which is for the construction of solar irrigation.”
Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said the country’s rice program has a P7 billion budget.
She was one of the 10 senatorial candidates who joined the sortie of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago political party chaired by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in Bataan on the second day of the campaign period.
