Former police general-turned farmer bats for country-wide farm modernization

A former police general-turned-farmer from the town of Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan has suggested that stakeholders in the economy of the different congressional districts and provinces must come together to formulate comprehensive farm modernization programs as key strategy in fighting poverty in the country.

The large vast track of idle and farm lands in the country must be broken down into more manageable economic units for more focused and doable farm and fishery modernization programs, retired Deputy Director General Reynaldo V. Velasco said in a press interview.

When he was still in active police service, Velasco worked in tandem with former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor, then PNP Director General and now Transportation Secretary Leonardo Mendoza and Bureau of Soils and Management Director Roger Concepcion to set up a livelihood and farming project for the police and military using vast track of idle lands to convert them into productive green zones.

The project was dubbed Commodity Assistance for Military and Police Personnel- Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (CAMPP GMA) aimed at converting camps into modern farms involving the police and military personnel and their dependents to be involved in food production, food security, reduction of poverty and improve their economic well-being. At least seven camps were initially identified but the project stopped when Montemayor was replaced as DA chief and Velasco was designated as executive director of the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime following his stint as director of the National Capital Police Regional Office.

Upon his retirement in police service, the general has successfully managed an integrated farm in Batangas and started the same in his hometown Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan since he retired in 2005.

Following the one-crop-one-town (OTOP) program of government, each district needs to be zoned as to the most suitable crop one town concentrates on with full marketing support systems, technical assistance, and micro financing mechanism, the farmer-general suggested.

The crop zoning system would prevent overproduction of one particular crop like rice or corn or product like pork or chicken and keep prices from diving, he explained.

"If things are kept as they have been for decades, the farmers and fisherfolk in the country will stay poor. Aggressive help by the government and business organizations must be sought as soon as such a comprehensive program is made," Velasco said.