SOME QUESTIONS THAT FARMERS SHOULD ASK WHEN MEETING WITH LOCAL STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

SOME QUESTIONS THAT FARMERS SHOULD ASK WHEN MEETING WITH LOCAL STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Many of us have attended meetings where government officials talk and farmers listen.

But shouldn't it also be the other way around?

If farmers are given the opportunity to meet local staff of the Department of Agriculture (DA), I believe they should come prepared with questions.

What crop should I plant? What fertilizer should I use? How do I control pests? What is the best time to plant? But I would go beyond these technical questions.

I would ask: How much will I spend? How much can I earn? And who will buy my harvest?

For me, these are the real questions.

The DA's Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) is actually mandated to provide training, farm and business advisory services, technology demonstrations and information support. ATI also uses learning sites, farmer field schools and digital extension programs.

So why not make these meetings more interactive?

I would ask the DA staff: Can you show us the actual production cost per hectare, including labor, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and other expenses?

Then I would ask: Who will buy our harvest, at what price and where?

If somebody recommends a particular seed, fertilizer or technology, I would ask: How many farmers actually made money using it? Can we visit them—not just the successful demonstration farm?

I would also ask: How many farmers failed using this method, and why?

Failure is part of farming. Why do agricultural presentations so often show only beautiful harvests?

And perhaps the most important question: After this meeting, who will come to our farm and help us when we encounter problems?

A one-day seminar is useful. But farming does not end when the PowerPoint presentation ends.

I also have a bigger question.

Why are so many Filipino farmers still poor after all these years?

Are farm-to-market roads the main problem? Irrigation? Post-harvest facilities? Farm machinery? Expensive inputs? Lack of financing? Or, perhaps most importantly, lack of access to profitable markets?

I have seen the work of businessman Ramon Uy Sr. of Bacolod City, who has been promoting affordable farm machinery with easier payment arrangements. He has also promoted shredders that allow farmers to turn farm wastes into organic fertilizer and has shared natural approaches to pest management.

Why can't more farmers have access to similar practical technologies?

To be fair, I know that ATI is doing a lot. Its 2025 report says it conducted 2,201 training programs and reached more than 45,000 farmers and fisherfolk. 

But perhaps we need more meetings, more field visits and more two-way communication.

Why not make DA social-media pages genuinely interactive? Why not answer farmers' actual questions instead of sending automatic replies?

And why not use radio, television, Facebook and other platforms to reach farmers who cannot attend meetings?

My message to farmers is simple:

Don't go to agricultural meetings just to listen. Go there to ask.

Ask about costs. Ask about markets. Ask about risks. Ask about failures. Ask about follow-up.

After all, farming is not a classroom exercise.

It is a business, a livelihood and the source of our country's food.

Farmers deserve answers—not just PowerPoint presentations.

I kept the tone firm but avoided adopting the supplied passage's more accusatory claims about organizers “playing” farmers, because those claims aren't established by the material or the DA/ATI sources I checked.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres  iseneres@yahoo.com  senseneres.blogspot.com  09088877282/09-16-2027

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