President Quezon glorifies prospects the Filipino farmer

Media

Part of Farming and Cooperatives

Title
President Quezon glorifies prospects the Filipino farmer
Language
English
Source
Farming and Cooperatives, 1 (1) November 1945
Year
1945
Subject
Philippines--History
Crops--Philippines
Agriculture--Philippines
16+
Rights
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Fulltext
President QUEZON Glorifies IN November, 1945, falls the tenth anniversary of the <?stablishment of the Philippine Commonwealth so auspiciously inaugurated in November, 1935. November 1945 also marks the tenth year of preparation for the granting of Independence as provided in the Tydings McDuffie Act. Only a year ago, this month, American liberation forces in Leyte began the most intensive campaign for the retaking of the Philippines from the Japanese control which terminated successfully after the fall of Manila on February 5, 1945 and freed the Philippines from further Japanese atrocities. November also At Bucna1:is ta on t.he Fir s t. Rice Planting Day. Prouo1uici11.g his Social Justice prog1·a·1n for snuill farmers. ushers the nation to the year J 946 when an independent Phil ippines wi ll be establi shed, marking- the culmination of centuries of strugi::lc of the Filipinos for political emancipation. It is only logical and in keeping wiLh our traditions of gratitude and loyalty to our national heroes, that we turn our thoughts this month to one whose life's incessant labor was dedicated to . the political emancipation of his people, to the man who b1·ought home the J ones Act, the Tydings McDuffie Act, and whose work united the Filipinos and prepared them PROSPECTS THE most critical food situation ever experienced in the Philippines was during the period from June to December, 1944. The factors that contributed to aggravate the situation had been many and unavoidable. The production of 1943 was far below normal of prewar production due to typhoons, floods and war ravages. The ordinary carry over stock of trade had been depleted during 1942. No importation of any form of food was possible during the years 1942 and 1943. There was no facility to move crops from areas of production to consumption centers. On top of these difficulties the country was over-run by an invading army that depended upon the locality to feed its soldiers. The invasion army were rice eaters. Had it not been for corn, camo16 te and cassava, planted in response to the food production campaign in 1943 and early 1944, Manila and the surrounding rice deficient provinces would have sufferred from famine in 1944. In considering production and food supply distribution, the Philippi• nes may be divided into ten districts or geographical regions as follows. ( 1) The Ilocos provinces consisting of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Mt. P rovince and La Union. (2) Cagayan valley: Cagayan, Isabela and Nue.va Viscaya. (3) Central Luzon: Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan a nd Zambales. (4) Manila. (5) Southern Luzon: Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Tayabas, Mindoro and Marinduque. (6) Bicol region, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon. .(7) East Visayas, Samar, Leyte, Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Oriental Negros. (8) West Visayas, Capiz, Romblon, Antique, Iloilo, Occidental Negros and Palawan·. (9) North Mindanao: Oriental and· Occidental Misamis, Lanao, Agusan, Surigao and Bukidnon, and (10) South Mindanao: Cotabato, Davao, Zamboanga and Sulu. Each district has its geographical advantages which facilitate movement of crops from areas of production to centers of consumption. Manila is entirely a consuming center. The Southern Luzon disti·ict is rice deficient and gets its supply from Central Luzon. The Bicol provinces after big typhoons get short of food supply but in normal times capable of self-sufficiency. The Ilocos district is also bordering the defficiency line, but can get supply from the Filip for the establishment of an independent Philippines in July, 1946. President Quezon is the Benefactor of the Farmer, because his shining obsession was his crusade for the cause of Social Justice to attain the peace and well-being of the people of the rural districts. The memory of President Quezon gives us eternal inspiration in the cause we have adopted as obj ~ctives for which Far1 ming and Cooperatives serves, Namely:Stabili=ation oj AgricH/t.nra/ ProdHction ,· for the Cagayan valley. Cebu province is def~cient in food supply but the neighboring producing areas of Leyte, Oriental N egros and northern Mindanao provinces supply all the needs of Cebu. All other districts have in the past maint~ined seJf-sufficiency with interprovinc1al movement of food supplies. Central Luzon, Cagayan valley, all Visayas, north and south Mindanao districts are self-sufficient and produce surplus for other districts. The Na ti on 's concern over food prospects ordinarily centers around Manila and neighboring rice-deficient provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Tayabas. These consuming centers depend upon supply of rice from Pangasina'Il, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Bulacan. Pampanga while capable of surplus production of rice has in recent FARMING AND COOPERATIVES F • ino 0 At his 0 Farmer S71caki119 before Filipino i11dw1tria!ists. Bctl& r. home town R 11ral l mprovemeul (tnt/ A um·nmcnt for the .<;mull fffnn ers of sociul and eco11om,ic sccur1:ty; Efficiency in F ann J l/crnngcnient, and D1~vcrsificalion of Crovs; Conserwition of Soil Fertility for an encl·urin_q Agricullurol P1·ospe1·ity; Better 1 Wtrit.ion, so as to have bigger farm e1·s, vigorous fa1'mers, longer living fannersFor tru ly President Quezon labored that the Philippine Commonwealth Government rna.v h' elp attain these objectives. years been in the ve1·ge of deficiency for many obvious reasons. Bataan which was self sufficieJ1t bofore the war had been totally reduced in productive capacity that it will take some )'ears to make it a surplus province. We must look forward to Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan and Pampanga for prospects of food for Manila and southern Luzon districts. The, critical period of food supply in Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Tayabas falls in the months of June, July, August. By September, camote, gabi, and upland rice and corn become available f1·om new crops. We have passed this critical period without experiencing any undue difficulties similar to the food difficulties of 1944. From now on, camote, carnoteng kahoy and rice will be more generally abundant. D The critical period for food supply in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija is during September, Octobe.r and November. Like the proverbial story of the blacksmith without the bolo, rice growers are usually short of rice supply during those months. Early crop of (Continued on 71nye 19) 17 Consumers' cooperatives were also organized in Manila and other places before the war. It was not, however, until after inflation had reached a critical stage during the war that consumers' cooperath·es were organized on a larger scale, especially in Manila, in order to provide their members with rice and other necessities at reasonable prices in the face of the sky-rocketing of prices during the latter part of the Japanese occupation. An increasing number of consumers cooperative stores are distributing ECA goods in l\lnnila at present. The corporation here proposed to be set up would consolidate all the activities of the government pertaining to cooperative enterprise and \"ests the supervision and control of all kinds of cooperatives in one organization. It has been the experience in the past that a mere division in a bureau, burdened as it is with other functions, could not cope with the work of organizing and supervising cooperatives. It could not get the necessary technical personnel and it does not possess the necessary prestige to push vigorously and effectively the cooperative mo\•ement. Such centralization of authority would promote efficiency and unified control by the government of the activities of cooperatives in order to correct defects in their management which had contributed to a large extent to the failure of many of them. The Board of Governors, through its technical staff, would provide for uniform reports, accounting systems, and issue such rules and regulations to forestall any irregularity and to remedy faulty methods in the running of the business affairs of the cooperatives. The appropriation herein provided would be partly employed in contributing to the meager capital of some of the cooperatives whose members could not push up sufficient funds to permit efficient operation, and partly in conducting a nation-wide campaign of educating the people about the objectives and benefits of cooperation both in productive enterprises and in consumption. The cooperative enterprise provides the most effective means of aiding and rehabilitating the common man, either as a producer or a consumer, in his efforts to survive ruthless competition and the monopolistic tendencies of our present economic society, which make possible profiteering and exploitation of the weak by the strong. The cooperative has been a powerful factor for social and economic amelioration in other countries, and it could he made to secure a greater measure of social welfare among the masses of our population. In view of the importance of this measure its approval is earnestly urged. (Sgd.) NARCISO RAMOS Congreaaman, 5tk District, Panga.llinan (Sgd.) JOSE ROMERO Cong't"eaaman, .2nd Di8trict, Oriental Negroa (Sgd.) MANUEL V. GALLEGO Congressman, 1st Di8triet, Nueva Ecija (Sgd.) JUSTINIANO S. MONTANO Congreall'tflQtn /01" Cavite (Sgd.) CEFERINO DE LOS SANTOS Cong't"eannan, 4th Diatri.ct, Iloilo (Continui!d on page .28) FARMING ANJl COOPERATIVES Prospects for Food .•. (Continued from. page 17) lowland rice does not come until November. Again the increased planting of corn camote and camoteng kahoy in these provinces will prevent unnecessary di!!ic~lties, specially when supplemented with imported rice flour and corn. At the present moment 110 serious shortage is felt in rice in ilranila. Imoo~ted rii:e, corn, and flour keep population rationed for their needs. Locallv r~ised i:ice is available though at stiil high prices due to high transportation and handling costs. There seems to be no fear that there will be difficulty with food. supplies until the next harvest, r>art1cularly after the official announcement made that more rice and flour arc forthcoming :from abroad. The present rice crop which will be harvested beginning November will be in general distribution beginning J anuary 1946. From all indications this crop will not come up to normal prewar production for several reasons principally, late and insufficient rains duringplanting season, unsatisfactory labor conditions during the e8l'iy part of the cropping season, inadequacy of work aPimals and farm implements, a dearth of farm workers and destruction in farms and facilities. It is estimated that the crop in Central Luzon rice growing provinces will be hardly seventy per cent of normal production. We are still facing the typhoon season which somctim.- accounts for losses reaching from thirty to forty per cent. The Central rice growing provinces produce normally about seventeen million cavanes of pnlay available for consumption. Of these close to twelve million cavant>s go ~ local consumers, leaving five milhons for Manila and surrounding provinces. If present estimate of crop is taken as an indication of prospects for food then something like eleven million cavanes will only be available for consum.ption. But there need not be any pnmc for this situation-what actually w?uld happen is that the rice growers will reduce their consumption of rice to export as much rice as possible to obtam cash to buy commodities that they have missed during the last three years. They will eat more corn, camote and cassava. Besides wheat flour may take the place of actually one third of Manila needs for rice if it is made available, and bread can be supplied to all families. Manila needs about two thousand cavans of rice daily. This is equivalent to about one million and one half carnns o~ palay a year. The neighboring provmces with the increased production of corn, camote and cassava locally, may need about three million cavans of palay. With four and one half million ca_van~ of palay under control for distr1but1on, tht?> food situation in :\Janila and surrounding provinces will b<' brought to fairly normal condition. As the harvest is fast approa~hing the problem of food distribution will not be urgent. until August of 1946. Speedy cconom1cal transportation would make available to all needy centers the croJ1' from Central Luzon rice growing provincrs. The pressing problems at prP~ent are those connected with harvesting and threshing facilities, containers, and (Continued on ]>n(Je 21) Wheth-er on Business, or Pleasure ride on transportation operated by - FERNANDEZ TRIPS Service - To Pangaainan, llocoa and Laguna and Tayabaa Office:-760 Quezon Blvd. GENERAL CORPORATION of the PHILIPPINES *------Seattle Importers Manila Prefabricated Houses - Streamlined busses - Shoes - Small and lOc Merchandise - Reconditioned autorr..obiles - Hardware - Pharmaceutical - Construction Materials We Receive Indent Orders New Office - 219 Lope de Vega 19 PROGRESSIVE FARMING T HE Philippines as everybody knows is basical.y an agricultural country. As the saying goes, '·fam1ing is the back: bone of the country." If so, how strong is our backbone? We have to admit that our farming methods are not up-to-date as may be desired. The same practices and crude tools used in the past are still found in many of our farms. We are behind in adopting useful, up-to-date information. J:>;ew ideas are look~d upon by most farmers with suspicion and they are reluctant to change. If we are to develop our farms in a progressh·e way, we must think hard, plan out our work and put these plans into practice. The plans for our farm work must be based on modern farm practices. Modern farm practices is scientific farming. "Scientific" does not mean something supernatural or mysterious. It is not necessary for a small farmer to go to ·college to understand the meaning of scientific farming. It merely means in a nutshell, the organization of farm work into a detailed plan using available latest findings on the particular subject at hand. It means making every inch of land yield the maximum at the most economical way under given conditions. To sum it up, we must know at the outset, what we want, why we want it for, when we want it, and how we intend to produce it. If we can answer these things in detail, we have a fairly good idea of a scientific method. It is not the object of this column to encourage farming in a grand style but rather to put some light on common farm problems to help the development of the small farms into profitable enterprises. If we could help the farmer do small things in a profitable way we are more than recompensed in helping him. While we shall take the initiative in discussing in this department, problems about the daily work of the farmer, we request the farmers all over the country to cooperate by sending us their knotty problems, or suggestion they have discovered that can be useful to other farmers. (Continued on page 23) Prospects for Food .. (Co11ti111ud from page 111) labor conditions in the farm districts. Tractors and threshing machineries, trucks and warehouses were destroyed during the Japanese time. Cont.'\iners like jute sacks, even used ones, have practically disappeared from use. Not less than ten million sacks should be made available t-0 move the crop and store it. Warehouse facilities t-0 accommodate six nlillion cavans are needed to safely handle the next crop before the rainy season. Some two hundred outfits of tractors and threshing machines would be needed to speedly harvest the crops. Not less than 2000 two and ~:2 ton trucks are required for hauling rice from the fields to warehouses. The corresponding oil and fuel to mobilize all the mechanized units must be made a\·ailable. All these essential needs require financing and the farmers do not have the means now. Fanners' only money made from sales of crops during the last three years has no value. The food situation, however, will not be any more serious in 1946 as in 1945, the period just about to terminate, because both transportation greatly improved and importation possible from different sources as Burnrn, Si am, French Indo-China and the United States food can be made available. The most sound course to follow would be for a more general use of locally grown corn, camote and cassava, as between utilizing our own crops, saving our money and importing rice and flour to sending away money, the latter is the more sound economy. This calls for a more comprehensive government leadership and direction. The farmers have already started the planting of corn, camote and cassava and they should be encouraged by having their crops profitably marketed. Already the Batangas farmers have announced surplus cassava harvest without market. Laguna, Cavite, Tayabas, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan and Pangasinan are also producing corn, camote and cassava. Unless an organized attempt is made to market their crops, there will be great losses and the farmers may be discouraged from further cultivation of rice to the prejudice of self-sufficiency essential to a stable Philippine economy.Silagram (j-reetings to FARMERS Rural Mailbox Inquiries received from farmers shall be given prompt attention unless the answer is not readily available-in which case, it will be referred to an authority on the subject. The information will immediately be published. The following questions were placed in our hands just as we were going to press. Answers will be published in the next issue along with answers of questions that will be received next month. 1. Where can I buy white leghorn chicks for my foundation stock? Is fish meal available now for feeding layers? Is the much publicized Sta. Maria Poultry Raisers Association still alive? 2. Where can I secure onion seeds, and what is the best variety to grow? 3. Can we grow pop corn in the Philippines? 4. Before the war, the Bureau of Animal Industr,• helped pou I try raisers to avoid losses from chicken plague by vacci·nating hen and roosters. Is there any private party that will give the same service and \vhat is the cost? Can I buy the vaccine from the government and do my own vaccinating? 5. How can I secure nitrogen bacteria to innoculate the seeds of soybeans before planting? 6. Can I plant camotc after harvesting palay in December? (See Suggestions to Rice Growers) 7. Can I produce onion seeds and how? 8. How can we farmers of the locality form a Farmers Cooperative Association? 9. Where can I secure ramie seedlings? 10 What is the UNRRA, the ECA and the FEA and what are they doing for the farmers of the Philippines? 11. Harvesting and threshing rice in all Central Luzon will be in full swing by December. As the Japanese soldiers commandeered all tractors and threshers, where can the farmers secure these facilities now? Are the Companies dealing in farmers' machineries now open for business? We are ready to train your sons and fill your order for radio and other electrical equipment. NATIONAL RADIO SCHOOL 1130 Oroquieta, Manila (Authorized by the Government) COURSES • Radio Technician • Commercial Radio Opera tor • Marine and Aircraft Radio Operator • R1;1-dio Mechanic - Sound Technician - Master Electrician • Enrollment For Second Quarter Still Open • CLASSES BEGAN NOV. 5, 1945 MORNING - AFTERNOON - EVENING CLASSES For further information, write or see The Director FARMING AND COOPERATIVES 21