Food security for HLI farmers

The Supreme Court decision regarding the Hacienda Luisita dispute was very baffling. It revoked the Stock Distribution Plan (SDP) and then ordered a referendum to make the farmers choose between land or the Stock Distribution Option (SDO).

Instead of a referendum, the HLI should be given to the farmers, as is originally mandated by law, when the Cojuangco patriarch loaned money from the GSIS to buy the hacienda. The land should have been distributed since 1967. Furthermore, since the farm workers’ strike in 2004 and they stopped planting sugarcane, the lives of the farmers improved with their planting of rice and other food crops. This is due to the fact that they can use the crops for household consumption, as opposed to sugarcane which they cannot readily eat.

To help the farmers break free from their feudal bondage, the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP) implemented a comprehensive food security program in Hacienda Luisita in 2010. Through its Sustainable Agriculture Community Level Appropriate Technology (SACLAT) program, seeds were dispersed to two hundred families. They are members of Bungkalan, under the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) from Brgy. Balete. The objective was to help the farmers have food to eat and part of their harvested seeds will be given to farmers in other areas who are also in need.

A demonstration trial farm was also constructed. One hectare was planted with traditional rice varieties and another hectare was planted with native vegetables. The proceeds from the harvested crops will be used for the activities of Bungkalan.

Sus-Ag (Sustainable Agriculture) trainings such as soil, crop and pest management were also given to educate the farmers on organic farming so that they will not rely on expensive farm inputs that keep them indebted. Furthermore, planting rice yields 3 cropping season a year while planting sugarcane only has one cropping per year. This shows that rice is more profitable for the farmers.

If the President truly hopes to be self-sufficient in rice production in the coming years, it is only logical that he must support the local farmers so that the harvest will be sufficient for the whole country. All available fertile agricultural lands must therefore be utilized, including his family’s Hacienda Luisita Inc.

It must be noted that food security is a political will of a country’s government and it starts with a genuine agrarian reform law which distributes land to farmers.