ALYANSA Para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidate and former Senator Panfilo Lacson wants Filipinos to recognize agriculture as a high-tech driver of food security and economic growth, moving away from the outdated view of it as a sector for poor farmers.

Lacson emphasized that this mindset shift is crucial for preparing young Filipinos to take up agriculture and contribute to making the Philippines a food-secure, agriculture-exporting nation if he returns to the Senate.

“We need to change our mindset. Agriculture should be viewed as high-tech, not the outdated image of farmers tilling the land with a carabao,” he said. “In Europe, farmers are wealthy due to agriculture, but in the Philippines, they’re often associated with poverty.”

Lacson is preparing legislation that includes a “Kabataang Magsasaka” bill, which would offer scholarships to poor but deserving youth, particularly children of farmers. The bill aims to expose agricultural scholars to modern technology and equipment in the field.

He highlighted the University of the Philippines Los Baños, which offers master’s courses in biotechnology, as an example of how modern equipment is crucial to advancing agriculture. Lacson introduced amendments to the national budget to secure funding for such programs.

Additionally, Lacson stressed that this approach would help the Philippines become a competitive agricultural exporter, allowing the country to benefit from free trade agreements instead of just importing agricultural products. “We must prepare our farmers to be competitive in agriculture so we can export rather than only import,” he concluded.