All Filipino Farmers Becoming Rich? We Need The 3 Cs – Community, Community, Community!


Above, a LandBank advertisement: “If the farmer is rich, so is the nation.” Googling, I find it a quote from Amit Kalantri, an Indian writer. 

Does the Indian quote mean none of us Filipinos is thinking right about being a nation of rich farmers?!

Nope. Coming from a poor family, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has been writing about Filipino farmers becoming prosperous in the last 13 years at least. I happen to know because I had been an international consulting writer, 2007 to 2014, for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when he was Director General from 2000 to 2014.

Enriched and enriching, from Manong Willie and me, I now think the way for all Filipino farmers becoming rich is in any or all of these 3 Cs:

(1)   Community of Christians
(2)   Community of Coop Members
(3)   Community of Public & Private Concerns.

I am thinking in terms of the philosophy of Inclusive Development, to bring prosperity to everyone, especially farmers. I first encountered that with Manong Willie at ICRISAT. I think that it is enough to declare a principle of Equal Opportunity – Society must make available the resources to everyone simply because they are members of that community. So:

Community of Christians.
Surprised? Individual Development is American – “The American Dream” is if you have reached your first million dollars, “you have arrived.” Inclusive Development is Christian – you recognize it in the Bible expression “Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16, most versions) – In any community, you can’t be rich and the others poor and leave it at that! Inclusive development is where everyone wins.

Community of Coop members.
I am a longtime member of the Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative in my hometown Asingan in Eastern Pangasinan, and I believe that this kind of coop is an excellent device for enriching every member, including those who do not believe that they can ever be rich. By rich, I do not mean a millionaire, simply that members of every family can tap resources to satisfy their hierarchy of needs as according to Abraham Maslow.

Community of Public & Private Concerns.
Manong Willie believes in an institution-led Inclusive Development, where there is partnership among public agencies, private companies, philanthropists, private organizations, and the peasants themselves. There is a common goal: Prosperity for all.

Now, being prosperous does not necessarily mean what the above LandBank image suggests. I don’t have to own a farm equipment at all to be a rich farmer.

Surfing further, I find desirable what James Truslow Adams said in 1931 of the American Dream:

Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement[1].

Investopedia says of the same[2]:

The American Dream is the belief that anyone… can attain their own version of success… achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.

Similarly as well as differently, I say the Filipino Dream is achieved through Community, or Community, or Community!@517





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