People prayed for rain these past few months in North Cotabato. Drought plagues the province like no other in Mindanao, laying waste to tens of thousands of hectares of rice farms planted in time for the March harvest season. The harvest would have brought food on the table, relief from the heat and the chance to plant anew for the main season crop in September. But the rains did not come and cloud seeding did little to alleviate the shortage of water. Rice stocks were adequate and the granaries were full. Yet, no relief came despite repeated pleas for help from indebted farmers, their burdened wives and their starving children. Bloodshed in Kidapawan: Climate change, conflict, politics of famine A well written article from the inquirer and well worth the read.
And nobody in government cares or will do anything to ease their starvation. Reminds me of North Korea...
Hmm. Maybe they aren't doing it right? Seems they are asking the wrong person for help. He either doesn't care or thinks they deserve it. Also this ain't free. I doubt anyone but the government has the resources to do this in the Philippines. It sounds like the government was trying to help......but they were trying to hit the cause of the problem, not the symptoms. If stocks were adequate and granaries full why are they starving?
Just a W.A.G. but someone either owns the grain or controls it and is not giving it away for free and seeing as the farmers have no crops due to lack of precipitation they then have no money to buy the grain. kinda a vicious cycle IMO.
The farmers weren't paid fair market price for the grain and rice in those granaries? Maybe they need to be charging more for their product if the money isn't enough to sustain them during the dry season. Farming isn't an easy job and society definitely needs them but I don't think anyone should be forced to give charity. Nobody is responsible for the farmers hardship due to bad weather. It sucks.....but such is life. I think the government has some responsibility in assisting these farmers since they benefit society as a whole and life would be much harder for everyone if they weren't around.
You make it sound so simple and easy when in fact it is anything but... I agree the government should in some way assist especially as they are the food safety net for the nation. Farming is a difficult job and in a perfect world every member of society would be at least given a minimum standard of living like is done in most western nations (through welfare/SNAP/Unemployment etc...) but those things do NOT exist in the PI in any meaningful way. Most farmers here are no better really than share croppers were in the US. They are desperately poor and have little to no opportunity to change their situation for themselves or their children as the "free" education system here is NOT free nor very good IMO. Hence a large percentage of Farmers children do not finish even the 6th grade education as they are needed to help on the farm. Most farmers also don't own the land they farm. They rent it for a set fee or amount of crop. If drought and little or no crop not only do they have nothing to pay the land owner, they have nothing to eat or sell for cash money. They then have to go further into debt to borrow money to pay for the failed crop and then borrow again to get seeds for next seasons crops and for food to eat. The only one getting rich is the landowner. That's how you keep a nation and it's people impoverished and if they are lucky enough to break that vicious cycle they usually end up in large cities doing menial labor and living in squalor. Boy, what an exciting future they have to look forward to... Please don't' over simplify their struggles. They do NOT have an easy life and everything is not settled as easily as you seem to imply.
Found this in a book over the Philippine history I'm reading. This observation was made in 1634!! It has been too justly observed by Señor Solórzano , that whatever is established with a view to benefit the Indians (philippino's), universally fails of attaining that end; nor is this to be wondered at, as every regulation brought forward with this avowed intention is always so contrived, as to contribute not to the advantage of the oppressed Indian, but solely to that of the person exercising the chief authority.