Rising costs of food prices and daily living expenses make farmers more vulnerable to destitution, cyclical debt, and landlessness.

Rising costs of food prices and daily living expenses make farmers more vulnerable to destitution, cyclical debt, and landlessness.

By Ruth Nacional
Bulatlat.com

MANILA–Members of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan Women) held a “Run for Land Against US Imperialist War” to mark International Day of the Landless last Sunday.

The Asian Peasant Coalition, Rural Women Advocates, National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates-Youth, and other advocates joined the event.

Amihan and APC secretary-general Cathy Estavillo said in a statement that relentless land grabbing and land-use conversion of agricultural lands are the root causes of landlessness, poverty, and hunger in rural farming areas. She stressed that peasant leaders face persistent harassment, state-sponsored violence, illegal arrests and detention, and brutal killings when standing against big corporations that amass lands for residential real estate and commercial projects.

Read: National Peasants Month | Stories from the fields of struggle

The groups condemned the US and Israel’s war against Iran, highlighting how oil price hikes exacerbate the farmers’ situation, especially with the continued implementation of the oil deregulation law.

“US imperialism has long been a scourge on our farmers and food producers in the countryside,” Estavillo said. “The US has historically stolen land in the countryside both to plunder our natural resources as raw materials for their industries to build their military bases. With the ongoing aggression it has launched toward Iran, the US has once again used our land as a launchpad for war and put the lives and livelihoods of local farmers and rural communities at great risk.”

Amihan Women lamented the surge in agricultural production costs, now amounting to nearly P60,000 to P70,000 (US$987 to US$1151) per month, with irrigation expenses at around P286.85 (US$4.7) per day. This is in stark contrast to the P10 to P11 (US$0.16 to US$0.18) per kilo price of palay, and the roughly P300 (US$4.9) small farmers growing different crops earn daily. 
They stressed that the rising costs of food prices and daily living expenses make farmers more vulnerable to destitution, cyclical debt, and landlessness. The advocates called for the removal of taxes on fuel products and basic commodities. (AMU, DAA)

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