With food security wholly dependent on agriculture, farming is indeed the world’s present and future.

However, with an aging farmer population and a growing lack of interest in rural communities to pursue this line of work, many countries like the Philippines are faced with the huge task of encouraging a new generation of farmers, especially the youth, to engage in agriculture.

Claire Huang, a young Taiwanese agribusiness student who recently visited Philippine farms under the 2023 Taiwan Youth Agricultural Ambassadors (TYAA) program, believes the youth would play a significant role in sustaining the sector in the coming years.

Huang said that coupled with innovation and the use of technology, the potential for farmers to increase their yields and boost revenue is high.

“I think there’s future in farming,” she said, recalling a time when she witnessed how product innovation helped an aging farming town in Tainan sell its mangoes and bananas.

Huang said the average age in the town was about 65 years old.

“Every day, I would see the farmers bring their production – mango and banana – and try to sell them but there’s no main road crossing in that town so no one is actually passing by often. Everyone’s producing the same fruits so they don’t need to buy products from each other,” she narrated.

“It was very sad because I see them every day and I know they’re trying to make a living.”

The company she was serving in as an intern at that time came up with a project where they bought a batch of local mangoes and used them to produce mango jams.

“The mango jams, compared to fresh mango, have a longer shelf life and we also gave it a really nice packaging and we made 900 jars and sold 500 within one month. That was the time I knew I can do something,” she said.

“The local farmers were pleased with the product and I really thought, ‘Wow I can make an impact in this area and this is very meaningful.’ That was the time I knew choosing to study agrobusiness is the right thing for me.”

Sharing best practices

Huang came with 23 other “agricultural youth ambassadors” to the Philippines this month to share the best insights on farming and agribusiness with Filipino stakeholders.

The delegates included students and experts on fruit and vegetable cultivation, organic farming, agricultural economics, and aquaculture.

The TYAA Program ran from Nov. 12 to 19 and allowed the 24 to engage with executives of the Department of Agriculture (DA), International Rice Research Institute, Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduates Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).

They also interacted with farmers from the Tabon San Jose Farmers’ Association and officials of the Harbest Agribusiness Corp. in Pasig City.

In the Philippines, a 2020 research study by retired University of the Philippines anthropology professor Florencia Palis said there is a growing preference among Filipino youth to work abroad than to farm.

The study also found that the majority of the farmers themselves encourage their children to “stay away” from farming.

At least 597 or 64.7 percent of the 923 surveyed for the study said they “do not want” their children to become rice farmers like them, the majority of whom think they would not have a future in the fields while a portion said their children are not interested in farming.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who had chaired the DA, had been encouraging the youth to help increase the sector’s productivity.

The government previously launched the Young Farmers Challenge, which offers financial grants for youths who would engage in new agri-fishery enterprises.

The DA also continues to offer scholarships for agriculture-related courses. (PNA)