Remembering the time when I was in college, one of our projects in Agriculture Economics was identifying the financial status of farmers in one area and finding out their way of soliciting Finances in farming.
This article will give several suggestions and concerns to the Philippine government agencies that may cater this kind of solutions for Farmers. We all know that Finances or Money itself are the blood of the one business. To make effective solutions and enhance the lives of Filipino Farmers in resilience way, an effective solutions is must be obtained. Let us discuss the possibility and solutions to the daily needs of Filipino Farmers.
How do farmers sustain their daily needs on farms respectively?
On the data, we gathered during one-on-one interviews with the Farmers in Barangay Road, Pawili, Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines, Farmers opened up their way to sustain their financial struggle in farming.
In the mentioned study above by S.K. Mahale et.al 2024, the findings were the same regarding the burden struggles in the Philippines which are the lack of access to credit and insurance because of some requirements by the banks. Further assessment of the financial needs of Farmers shall indeed important and a way to encourage farmer's capacity to produce large volumes of rice.
Rice farmers start their financial needs in land preparation to almost four months of caring up to Rice Milling. A long time to wait before selling their farm outputs may consume money.
One of their way to get funds for farm inputs is by borrowing money from lenders or middlemen. Farmers borrow money from lenders to buy farm inputs such as workforce or manpower, rice seeds, fertilizer and for family expenses while waiting for their harvest. But not all farmers are financially educated which is one of the reasons why they harden to sustain their financial aid in farming and this problem is still their weakness until they turn to debt-trap - a terrifying life struggle.
Some of the farmers are dependent on middlemen which is the biggest problem that the government needs to solve. According to farmers, they borrowed money or farm inputs such as Binhi, fertilizer and their daily needs to the comprada. In return for the favors given by the middleman, they owe no such single interest but they will need to sell their harvest to them. Comprada sometimes buys their harvest at a lower price which they can not demand for the right price due to their indebtedness.
How does government support can cut this chain of suffering in farmers?
The government launched several programs and Financial support to farmers but maybe as you can see not all of the programs are working for other farmers. Most farmer's benefits from the government can not address their needs nor farmers can not handle the financial support received from the Government.
The effective ways to support Financial aid to farmers based on the farmer's experience are not just a matter of Financial needs and income earned by farmers, Financial education must be provided by the Department of Agriculture or the Central Government itself. Financial education has the biggest role in molding Filipinos' capacity to handle personal finance and farm expenses. As we have observed, the National Government and its agencies have never been stopping to create programs and provide Financial support to farmers just to elevate their lives, and provide for their needs.
The second way to address the resilient programs and Financial support for farmers is by being a middleman. Why government need to become a middleman between Rice farmers and other farmers in other commodities? Middleman significantly controls the possible earnings of farmers because they control the price. The middleman aims to earn which they will sell final products at a higher price.
If the National Food Authority (NFA) creates programs to aid the Financial inputs and needs of farmers during farming, Rice prices and supplies will be stabilized. NFA can lend to Rice Farmers for their farm inputs such as cash, fertilizer, binhi and machinery and equipment to support their entire expenses and in return, the Farmers will be obliged to sell their harvest in NFA at a price enforced by the law or resolution. With these programs, the government will stop wasting its money on useless programs. The middlemen will not ruin the lives of farmers. Once more, the simplified and convenient access to the programs is an effective way to choose NFA Farm Inputs and Loan Agency rather than Comprada because Filipinos want a simplified and easy way to lend. They don't want more requirements or long time processing. As much as possible the government can cater to the Farmer's loan in 1 to 3 business days.
What do you think about the suggestion we created to solve the national rice shortage and to solve the problem of every Filipino farmer? Let us know in the comment section of this article.
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