according to the results of the latest surveys conducted by the national statistical coordination board, mountain province is one of the poorest provinces in the philippines and it is the poorest province in the entire island of luzon. many folks from mp must be reeling over these findings. some would probably say, "but we eat three times a day. and if a neighbor butchers his pig to celebrate some traditional observance, a healthy dose of protein gets included in our diet." the governor has actually went on to question the results of the said survey, but to no avail. poor, it is, for mountain province. some groups would rationalize that one major cause for such lowly ranking for the province is the propensity of mp folks to understate the monthly or annual income they make. this could be true but it seems that the nscb has taken this characteristic into account, apart from other factors which could adversely affect the validity or unassailability of the results. the whole process, it would appear is scientific.
so, scientific, the people of mountain province are poor. what could this mean for all of us? are we now going to bow our heads in embarassment every time we meet outsiders? are we going to hold out our hands and plead for alms? are we going to hold placards, flock to the streets and march in protest over the said survey? are we taking it as a challeng and strive to improve our lot? or do the results of that survey ever matter to us at all? do we care? do the people care? do the officilas care? gawis ay mountain province!
survey or no survey, though, there is one sector in the province which would be very grateful if more help for it were extended. this is the vegetable gardening sector and they deserve all the help that they can get. (neglected would have been a very appropriate word to describe it, but during those days when building farm to market roads was the craze, most of the bare pathways were widened and/or cemented and, surely, the farmers benefited.) the most galling aspect of the whole gardening process is the marketing of the products. why should it be allowed that food, a very basic need, and always the result of huge efforts by our honest, hard working farmers, be the object of gambling. well, they call it the law of supply and demand- if you planted cabbage and it so happened that many others did the same, you can only pray to god, or whoever will listen, to magically convert your cabbage to sweet peas because with the glut of cabbage in the market, you'll not earn a cent. it's plain crazy why this situation has been allowed to continue through all these years.
one farmer in benguet, a certain mr. abalos, was resourceful enough to have overcome this predicament of farmers. (his story was featured in the inquirer some years back. searching for that story in the archives of the inquirer would yield negative results- the data base only go as far back as 2004, it seems.) what he did was to erect a greenhouse. this ensured the continuity of production- the problem with the unpredictable weather and climate change is solved. he then made arrangements with a fastfood chain in metro manila whereby he will supply the chain's needs for bell pepper, albeit, at a fixed price. with the deal, each of the contracting parties were happy. the chain is assured of a steady supply of one of the main ingredients in their menu and they wouldn't worry about the fluctuation of price. (bell pepper's value could be very mercurial- one moment, it can be given for free by farmers, and the next, it could fetch a price of 150 pesos per kilo.) and the farmer is glad that his sales would be steady.
the keys to the above success story are the greenhouse and the deal with the fastfood chain- two areas where the government might be able to help. with the wide open reality that most gardeners don't have any contacts with establishments who have reasonably sizeable demands for highland vegetables, government could aid the farmers in the search. and in lieu of the greenhouse, considering that not all farmers have the financial capability to build one, a cold storage facility could very easily fill in the role of maintaining a steady supply- farmers could stockpile for the next two months, or so. this is important if the farmers are to have a chance in entering into an "abalos deal".
sounds neat,eh? is the pagano just dreaming here? are the government employees listening? dti? da? por favor?
4 comments:
That's a sobering finding from NSCB. Let's hide our heads in shame ha ha. But then again, when it comes to poverty statistics, I think it depends on the indicators that one choses to measure. I remember reading a Newsbreak magazine article two/three years ago where it was mentioned that Mt. Province is at the top of the country's "wealthiest" provinces according to a study by a UN-related agency (but not really sure). In this study, they included indicators such as access to drinking water and the kind of housing materials used kaya medyo umangat ang Mt. Province.
However, when it comes to livelihood opportunities within the province, walang wala talaga tayo. Siguro isa iyon sa tinignan ng NSCB.
If I were a government official, I would use this finding to ask for more funding from the national government and other sources. He he.
yeah. poverty or wealth is a very subjective issue and a person's material posessions can never guarantee a state of happiness or satisfaction in one's life. take japan and south korea for example. their citizens have much bigger per capita income but it would appear that south koreans and japanese have bigger problems and are also much lonelier than filipinos, if the suicide rates for the three countries were to be used as a guide for determining happiness. sucide rates in japan and south korea are much higher than in the philippines. of course, i would rather be wealthy with problems than be poor saddled with numerous worries. he he.
the insufficiency of livelihood opportunities being a factor for the dismal results of that survey could be true. so instead of challenging the said results, tama, ask for more funding.
Couldn't find the link to your source so I can't say for sure, but it seems one of the reasons why MP is poor is that the prices of goods in the province is so high.
And my bad, I didn't have the patience to check if you mentioned this on your blog.
the truth here is that i found out about the nscb survey from the discussions and the news which were aired by radio ng bayan bontoc. i didn't bother to search for the documents which would support the results of the said survey, thinking that the rnb bontoc pesonnel wouldn't be so irresponsible to be broadcasting so sensitive an issue if they didn't have proof for it.
yeah. the high prices of goods in the province could be one of the culprits. kakailian, baka tetewa nalabes nan panagpresyo tako ta inayan.:-)
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