Monday, February 28, 2005
I Was Just Thinking.....
Catanduanes Economic Forum
I wrote the following article towards the end of 2001 or the first part of 2002. The Catanduanes Tribune was kind enough to have published this back then.
I am re publishing this through the Forum to revisit my early projections for the island and its economy. A few more old articles will follow... if this one makes it to the Forum.
I WAS JUST THINKING….
I have noted in past issues of Catanduanes Tribune several efforts by our local government to improve the lot of our fellow Catandunganons by addressing projects related to agriculture or to put it more simply better food production. It was also announced that through QUEDANCOR, loans to qualified individuals so they may undertake projects in fish farming, chicken and hog raising and so on, will be made available soon. Recently I read about some money being allocated for several irrigation projects all around the island. There was a noted lack of detail in what the irrigation projects were all about. At any rate, the amount of money allocated to the irrigation projects makes one think that either they were very small projects or they were existing projects that needed additional funding.
I do not claim to be a farm or food production expert but I would like to share a few things that I have observed in the hope that it may shed additional light to our provincial leaders’ efforts at improving food production. In food production or any undertaking we of course expect to be successful so we can harvest the products of our labor. So, the first question becomes, “What is the expected RATE OF SUCCESS of all these projects (individual or community)?” Why is this question very important? The answer is simple. We do not want to waste money, time and effort on any project. It has been almost 30 years since I left Catanduanes and I visit an average of every 2 to 5 years. To date our island is still not self sufficient in many things and this goes for food production, which is above anything, should get the most attention. No one wants to go hungry. We have a lot of families who are not eating well. Or if everyone is eating, it would be nice to see better food quality, better food prices, increased incomes through more food production. It is good to have farm to market roads but is there really that much farm produce to take to the market?
I have lived near the San Joaquin Valley in California for the past 7 years. When one drives down Interstate Highway 5 through the valley, it is hard not to notice the miles of lush green farmland along the highway and the miles of irrigation waterways supplying water to these farms. These farmland used to be dry where only a few bushes and shrubs used to grow. California now produces more food than any other state or more food than most countries. So how did the Californians do it?
One very interesting thing caught my attention in addition to the massive waterways and the green crops when I first drove through this valley. I saw 2 or 3 huge billboards along the way making this announcement: “WHERE WATER FLOWS FOOD GROWS.” Very basic, very simple, to the point . Catanduanes is not dry like this valley. We have more water than we can handle. So the question becomes, “How do we get this plentiful supply of water to respective farmlands so we can start growing some REAL FOOD?” The congressman has a good idea but may not be quite ‘on the money’. Allocate several million pesos to several irrigation projects. As an observer I am very anxious to see when we will see profit and green produce roll out of these irrigation projects so we can at least utilize the newly built farm to market roads. Profit so that the project will
become self sufficient, generate income and GROW BIG and not die off like most of them have in the past. Or will we see crops produced at all from any of these projects? Perhaps money will run out before the projects get completed? Or the project will simply die on the wayside with another administration taking over the show? Thirty years is a long time. We are NOT producing enough food for everyone yet. Perhaps we should concentrate on ways on how to REALLY produce REAL FOOD now. The United States only has a very small percentage of its population engaged in food production yet it has the biggest food production in the world. The Philippines has a large percentage of its population engaged in ‘some kind of food production’. The Philippines imports food to sustain its food demand. The United States government fully supports its farmers with everything they need with profitability and production success in mind. Success may be measured by how much food is produced versus expenses. Again this is simple math. The Philippines dabbled with land reform, handed out land but there was no water, no seeds, no farm equipment, no fertilizer that the farm folks could afford. A different scenario would have fared better. Smaller scale food production projects with everything that the farmers need to succeed would have been better than many projects with very low success rate. This is with the Philippine government’s limited funds in mind. One irrigation project that produces REAL FOOD NOW will always be better than six that will produce food in five years or worse not at all. We do not have to construct huge waterways at this time since we are broke. But we should wisely utilize the money that we have now. Again with producing food and profitability in mind like ASAP and not a few years from now. I have visited some farms that still do not benefit from the major waterway (it is called Sacramento Aqueduct). I noted that farmers were using water pumps driven by electric motors. Could Catanduanes afford to set up a few irrigation sites using electric motor driven pumps to irrigate farmland that are not near rivers or streams? Could local government support individual or community irrigation projects like this with a special rate on electrical consumption, discounted fertilizers, seeds and perhaps some surplus farm equipment? The knowledge in scientific farming has always been with us in the Philippines. We have not applied this knowledge well or the OPPORTUNITY TO ALLOW those possessing this knowledge to apply it has NOT been created. This is where our leaders may need to increase their efforts. Easier said than done? Yes, if our local leaders allow themselves to get stuck in the age-old political mindset of pleasing the electorate in as many locations as possible therefore they are forced to slice the budget which are normally too small to begin with into even smaller portions which results in a mile long farm to market at one location, another mile of farm to market at another location which does not make sense. The same could be said about the irrigation projects. Why slice the budget and spread it all out and fail to produce when it will be smarter to create one project and utilize all that money to fully produce food and profit at that one site now? It will also make sense to then create our farm to market road to that productive site. Our leaders should have food production and profitability in mind when they set out on these projects and not re-election. This is called unselfishness. And when the electorate for the first time wakes up to the fact that it is far easier and more sensible to have more DECENT food to eat on a regular basis than to receive a handout from a politician and eat sardines once every election year, he definitely will vote for the guy who has made it possible for him to have more food all
year. No offense to our leaders but we surely could have done better. The Philippines is still a third world country and Catanduanes is still a third world province. I do not think that the leadership of the past in the province or the country really did everything they can to make some meaningful or MAJOR DENTS in the multiple challenges we all face. It is awesome to see cable tv, internet and cell phone on The Rock but if you ask me if the hungry folks would rather have three VERY DECENT solid meals a day, I would say, YES!!! THEY RATHER WOULD! It’s rough chewing on cell phones or worse it is more rough to digest cable tv.
So, will we see THREE VERY DECENT MEALS A DAY for all on the island ever? Sure if we all dare to ACT in that direction. And I heard one wise guy say, “ A group is just as good as the leader leading that group.” Again no offense to our fearless leaders but we need to see history change on the Rock. Everyone would love to see the one who did make the difference. The one who really APPLIED HIMSELF in the right direction. A lot of you are sitting on that opportunity right now. Dare to make the difference?
I have not been home for Christmas in 30 years. I would like to one day see Christmas visit the island and find a better sight. What should this sight be like? Perhaps people with fatter food shelves in their kitchens? Farmlands green with crops and producing more food than we can handle? Decent looking houses. Indoor plumbing for all? Healthier looking faces. Decent roads to the smallest and most distant villages? Some parks to stroll in? A network of public libraries? We could name a few more. Then cable tv and cell phones will make more sense. Our governor will probably feel insulted with these references to his pet projects while he was a Congressman. He will probably argue that we could make the Rock more competitive and progressive through improvement of high tech. California has both Silicon Valley and its huge agriculture industry. Food came first. Then once people were happy with their stomachs’ situation, they were happy and prepared to set their sights on new and more exciting things like Silicon Valley. Besides our infrastructure and electric supply to name a few is not ready to handle high tech unless of course someone from outside with some SERIOUS bucks comes in and sets up shop along with big generators, big manufacturing facilities, new roads. That is if we ever get that lucky. Again another wise guy said, “Do the best you can with what you’ve got NOW where you are.”
It would be unfair, one might say, to pick on our governor and congressman of course for they may be sitting on the highest seats of power and authority on The Rock but Catanduanes is just a ‘little guy’ with a shallow pocket. It is simply unfair to compare Catanduanes to California. One might say that running Catanduanes as compared to running California is like comparing commanding officers running the show on a canoe and a mighty Aircraft Carrier. But hey, California was once a canoe! And how did it get to be so big? It started out just like any other ‘little guy’. But IT DID AND IS STILL DOING MANY, MANY, MANY THINGS RIGHT. Great leaders planned, closely managed, studied where things may have gone wrong and had them fixed, took ownership, kept their sights on objectives’ success, saw their ventures make it to the finish line. And the citizenry dared to make the difference! They also MADE THE
SHADY LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABLE. The leadership had NO choice but try their best to act with the citizens’ and the state’s behalf on their sights. Laws were created to benefit everyone’s lot. Propositions still abound and are voted on to pass or reject popular issues. Crooked and incompetent leaders were and are rooted out. The VOTERS demand and are given a lot of room to have their ‘say’ and the leaders listen. And TOGETHER they created, prospered and grew big. Hard to accomplish on the Rock? Yes, if we do not dare to change, if we remain indifferent to the badly needed changes. If we are ‘happy’ as is. Then we will remain a third world piece of Rock in the Pacific.
I was just thinking….
Tito Pepe
I wrote the following article towards the end of 2001 or the first part of 2002. The Catanduanes Tribune was kind enough to have published this back then.
I am re publishing this through the Forum to revisit my early projections for the island and its economy. A few more old articles will follow... if this one makes it to the Forum.
I WAS JUST THINKING….
I have noted in past issues of Catanduanes Tribune several efforts by our local government to improve the lot of our fellow Catandunganons by addressing projects related to agriculture or to put it more simply better food production. It was also announced that through QUEDANCOR, loans to qualified individuals so they may undertake projects in fish farming, chicken and hog raising and so on, will be made available soon. Recently I read about some money being allocated for several irrigation projects all around the island. There was a noted lack of detail in what the irrigation projects were all about. At any rate, the amount of money allocated to the irrigation projects makes one think that either they were very small projects or they were existing projects that needed additional funding.
I do not claim to be a farm or food production expert but I would like to share a few things that I have observed in the hope that it may shed additional light to our provincial leaders’ efforts at improving food production. In food production or any undertaking we of course expect to be successful so we can harvest the products of our labor. So, the first question becomes, “What is the expected RATE OF SUCCESS of all these projects (individual or community)?” Why is this question very important? The answer is simple. We do not want to waste money, time and effort on any project. It has been almost 30 years since I left Catanduanes and I visit an average of every 2 to 5 years. To date our island is still not self sufficient in many things and this goes for food production, which is above anything, should get the most attention. No one wants to go hungry. We have a lot of families who are not eating well. Or if everyone is eating, it would be nice to see better food quality, better food prices, increased incomes through more food production. It is good to have farm to market roads but is there really that much farm produce to take to the market?
I have lived near the San Joaquin Valley in California for the past 7 years. When one drives down Interstate Highway 5 through the valley, it is hard not to notice the miles of lush green farmland along the highway and the miles of irrigation waterways supplying water to these farms. These farmland used to be dry where only a few bushes and shrubs used to grow. California now produces more food than any other state or more food than most countries. So how did the Californians do it?
One very interesting thing caught my attention in addition to the massive waterways and the green crops when I first drove through this valley. I saw 2 or 3 huge billboards along the way making this announcement: “WHERE WATER FLOWS FOOD GROWS.” Very basic, very simple, to the point . Catanduanes is not dry like this valley. We have more water than we can handle. So the question becomes, “How do we get this plentiful supply of water to respective farmlands so we can start growing some REAL FOOD?” The congressman has a good idea but may not be quite ‘on the money’. Allocate several million pesos to several irrigation projects. As an observer I am very anxious to see when we will see profit and green produce roll out of these irrigation projects so we can at least utilize the newly built farm to market roads. Profit so that the project will
become self sufficient, generate income and GROW BIG and not die off like most of them have in the past. Or will we see crops produced at all from any of these projects? Perhaps money will run out before the projects get completed? Or the project will simply die on the wayside with another administration taking over the show? Thirty years is a long time. We are NOT producing enough food for everyone yet. Perhaps we should concentrate on ways on how to REALLY produce REAL FOOD now. The United States only has a very small percentage of its population engaged in food production yet it has the biggest food production in the world. The Philippines has a large percentage of its population engaged in ‘some kind of food production’. The Philippines imports food to sustain its food demand. The United States government fully supports its farmers with everything they need with profitability and production success in mind. Success may be measured by how much food is produced versus expenses. Again this is simple math. The Philippines dabbled with land reform, handed out land but there was no water, no seeds, no farm equipment, no fertilizer that the farm folks could afford. A different scenario would have fared better. Smaller scale food production projects with everything that the farmers need to succeed would have been better than many projects with very low success rate. This is with the Philippine government’s limited funds in mind. One irrigation project that produces REAL FOOD NOW will always be better than six that will produce food in five years or worse not at all. We do not have to construct huge waterways at this time since we are broke. But we should wisely utilize the money that we have now. Again with producing food and profitability in mind like ASAP and not a few years from now. I have visited some farms that still do not benefit from the major waterway (it is called Sacramento Aqueduct). I noted that farmers were using water pumps driven by electric motors. Could Catanduanes afford to set up a few irrigation sites using electric motor driven pumps to irrigate farmland that are not near rivers or streams? Could local government support individual or community irrigation projects like this with a special rate on electrical consumption, discounted fertilizers, seeds and perhaps some surplus farm equipment? The knowledge in scientific farming has always been with us in the Philippines. We have not applied this knowledge well or the OPPORTUNITY TO ALLOW those possessing this knowledge to apply it has NOT been created. This is where our leaders may need to increase their efforts. Easier said than done? Yes, if our local leaders allow themselves to get stuck in the age-old political mindset of pleasing the electorate in as many locations as possible therefore they are forced to slice the budget which are normally too small to begin with into even smaller portions which results in a mile long farm to market at one location, another mile of farm to market at another location which does not make sense. The same could be said about the irrigation projects. Why slice the budget and spread it all out and fail to produce when it will be smarter to create one project and utilize all that money to fully produce food and profit at that one site now? It will also make sense to then create our farm to market road to that productive site. Our leaders should have food production and profitability in mind when they set out on these projects and not re-election. This is called unselfishness. And when the electorate for the first time wakes up to the fact that it is far easier and more sensible to have more DECENT food to eat on a regular basis than to receive a handout from a politician and eat sardines once every election year, he definitely will vote for the guy who has made it possible for him to have more food all
year. No offense to our leaders but we surely could have done better. The Philippines is still a third world country and Catanduanes is still a third world province. I do not think that the leadership of the past in the province or the country really did everything they can to make some meaningful or MAJOR DENTS in the multiple challenges we all face. It is awesome to see cable tv, internet and cell phone on The Rock but if you ask me if the hungry folks would rather have three VERY DECENT solid meals a day, I would say, YES!!! THEY RATHER WOULD! It’s rough chewing on cell phones or worse it is more rough to digest cable tv.
So, will we see THREE VERY DECENT MEALS A DAY for all on the island ever? Sure if we all dare to ACT in that direction. And I heard one wise guy say, “ A group is just as good as the leader leading that group.” Again no offense to our fearless leaders but we need to see history change on the Rock. Everyone would love to see the one who did make the difference. The one who really APPLIED HIMSELF in the right direction. A lot of you are sitting on that opportunity right now. Dare to make the difference?
I have not been home for Christmas in 30 years. I would like to one day see Christmas visit the island and find a better sight. What should this sight be like? Perhaps people with fatter food shelves in their kitchens? Farmlands green with crops and producing more food than we can handle? Decent looking houses. Indoor plumbing for all? Healthier looking faces. Decent roads to the smallest and most distant villages? Some parks to stroll in? A network of public libraries? We could name a few more. Then cable tv and cell phones will make more sense. Our governor will probably feel insulted with these references to his pet projects while he was a Congressman. He will probably argue that we could make the Rock more competitive and progressive through improvement of high tech. California has both Silicon Valley and its huge agriculture industry. Food came first. Then once people were happy with their stomachs’ situation, they were happy and prepared to set their sights on new and more exciting things like Silicon Valley. Besides our infrastructure and electric supply to name a few is not ready to handle high tech unless of course someone from outside with some SERIOUS bucks comes in and sets up shop along with big generators, big manufacturing facilities, new roads. That is if we ever get that lucky. Again another wise guy said, “Do the best you can with what you’ve got NOW where you are.”
It would be unfair, one might say, to pick on our governor and congressman of course for they may be sitting on the highest seats of power and authority on The Rock but Catanduanes is just a ‘little guy’ with a shallow pocket. It is simply unfair to compare Catanduanes to California. One might say that running Catanduanes as compared to running California is like comparing commanding officers running the show on a canoe and a mighty Aircraft Carrier. But hey, California was once a canoe! And how did it get to be so big? It started out just like any other ‘little guy’. But IT DID AND IS STILL DOING MANY, MANY, MANY THINGS RIGHT. Great leaders planned, closely managed, studied where things may have gone wrong and had them fixed, took ownership, kept their sights on objectives’ success, saw their ventures make it to the finish line. And the citizenry dared to make the difference! They also MADE THE
SHADY LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABLE. The leadership had NO choice but try their best to act with the citizens’ and the state’s behalf on their sights. Laws were created to benefit everyone’s lot. Propositions still abound and are voted on to pass or reject popular issues. Crooked and incompetent leaders were and are rooted out. The VOTERS demand and are given a lot of room to have their ‘say’ and the leaders listen. And TOGETHER they created, prospered and grew big. Hard to accomplish on the Rock? Yes, if we do not dare to change, if we remain indifferent to the badly needed changes. If we are ‘happy’ as is. Then we will remain a third world piece of Rock in the Pacific.
I was just thinking….
Tito Pepe
