I have mentioned this a few times before- planting some vegetables in cans or pots or in our small backyard helps. It can save us some money because vegetables are expensive in the groceries and even in markets.
If you live in the city, in a tiny house, you can still grow some veggies, by planting in a can or a small garden bed. Use your resourcefulness and imagination. Tomatoes, okra, sayote, malunggay, and camote grow fast.
Makatipid kahit konti. You’ll just buy meat. At least hindi kayo magugutom.
Last month I received messages from strangers who found me on OMB, asking for monetary help. Some may be legitimate, some could be taking advantage of the height of the pandemic when hundreds of goodhearted citizens were giving out grocery items.
Some mentioned the words “wala ng makain” or “nagugutom na kami”. I am just thinking, if they are a little resourceful, they can plant even on a walkway, near the door, sa gilid-gilid lang.
On a larger scale, I would like to suggest the revival of our country’s agriculture industry. As a third world country, we should at least be self-reliant on rice and crops. This also helps in poverty alleviation especially in rural areas. This will also help decongest Metro Manila because those from the provinces would be able to find jobs or plant in their own provinces and flourish. They need not try their luck in the big cities because there is luck in agriculture. I think there’s a big percentage that those living in the streets and squatters area in Metro Manila are originally from the provinces.
The pandemic exposed our country’s vulnerability— that we don’t have food security. A catastrophic disruption could send us all to the hunger games.
Our country is now the third biggest rice importer which shouldn’t be. Our past leaders have clearly neglected and or mismanaged the country’s agriculture and rice production. They didn’t have a real blueprint to revitalize farming (and even fishing). The Department of Agriculture has billions in the annual budget.
Reviving the agricultural sector must be a government’s initiative and is a long term endeavor. Implementation must encompass any and all future leaders. Some of the things that are necessary are the construction of roads and bridges to bring the products to the market, modernize irrigation systems, low-cost financing to the farmers so they don’t borrow from individuals, or from financing institutions charging usurious interest rates.
