A long time coming

The idea has long been talked about, suggested and promoted by various individuals and groups, particularly former secretary Manny Piñol, but nobody in government or Malacañang was willing to pick up on the suggestion that the country should adopt solar powered stand-alone irrigation systems.  

 According to a source, the resistance to the idea was not about the technology but the fact that the face to the idea was secretary Piñol and that the direct beneficiary would be an Israeli company also associated with Piñol. My response was: So what? If nobody else had the idea, the technology and the company to back it up, so what if it was Piñol?  

 Unfortunately, in politics people have long memories and rear guards that make sure those who did not align with them don’t get support or recognition. Fortunately, there are other groups who believe in the stand-alone solar powered irrigation pumps, such as the Federation of Free Farmers that also has a former secretary of agriculture as chairman, namely Leonardo Montemayor who, since the presidential campaign, expressed his calibrated and hopeful support for PBBM.  

As reported in The Philippine STAR by Bella Cariaso, the FFF recently invited President Bongbong Marcos to their 70th Anniversary and along with the invitation, they also sent “proposals for a nationwide solar-powered irrigation program, establishment of a farm-to-market digital integrated backbone as well as an electronic commodity exchange system to enable farmers to sell their products directly to buyers in urban areas.” 

A week later, PBBM attended the anniversary and ordered a review of the proposals submitted. That outcome has sparked hope among federation members and rice farmers in general and proves that Leony Montemayor was right in his hopeful view of PBBM. Truth be told, PBBM has slowly but surely been moving the ball towards the goal. He has frowned on our dependency in imports, called for a stop to pass-through tolls on agricultural products, etc.  

Aside from the long overdue adoption and implementation of the stand-alone solar irrigation system, the idea of an integrated, government regulated agricultural commodity exchange was supposed to