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Implications of Agrarian Reform
Agrarian reform is one program that has far-reaching implications on the Philippines’ development as a nation. It is a significant means of attaining social, political and economic stability. Among the major implications of a genuine agrarian reform program are the following:
Economic
Agrarian reform envisions to “constitute the springboard for broad-based economic development... where people’s participation in decisions and processes influencing national agricultural and industrial development is institutionalized” (Dioscoro Umali 1987).
Agrarian reform seeks to make the Filipino farmer a viable producer thereby increasing his income. With higher income and secure employment, the rural population is in a stronger position to demand the goods produced by other sectors of the economy. Higher demand could lead to more investments resulting in the creation of more jobs. This should spur the economy to greater and sustained growth.
Agrarian reform can help create enough rural welfare to generate a strong domestic market for locally produced goods which is fundamental to any healthy economy. A more rural-based approach, creating wealth from the bottom, is needed. A genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform would allow such bottom-up development because of immediate asset transfer to farmers in the countryside.
Political
The political implications of agrarian reform cannot be taken lightly. As the Philippines remains predominantly an agricultural country, control over land continues to be a major source of wealth, security, social status and political power (Putzel and Cunnington 1989: p. 14). However, those who own or control land seldom farm it themselves. Their ownership allows them to decide on what to do with the land. Most importantly, control over land gives large landowners power within the economic and political system that far outweighs either their number or their contribution to national development. Farmers have little influence over local decision-making as most local governments are controlled by leading landowning families. During elections, only the wealthy families have the resources to finance political campaigns. They can exchange “favors” for votes. The poor farmer who is offered more money than he earns in a month is not likely to refuse (Putzel and Cunnington 1989). Under these conditions, democracy is undermined.
Agrarian reform seeks to establish farmers’ control over the decision-making process in agricultural production. It is a glaring fact that as producers lose access to land, they also lose the ability to decide what should be grown on the land and to influence how the produce should be disposed of.
Cultural
Owning land would make the farmers regain their dignity and sense of self-worth which for generations have been trampled upon. The tendency of farmers to be overly individualistic, so prevalent, would be eroded by a dynamic cooperative movement spurred both by individual and collective new landowners. Agrarian reform, it is hoped, would pave the way for the ultimate demise of the “culture of silence” among marginalized groups/classes brought about by a situation of powerlessness.
Women
Agrarian reform must also address the plight of rural women. A leader of a women’s peasant organization aptly summed up the situation: “Even in their poverty, peasant women and men are not equal.” Rural women suffer the worst conditions, both as farmworkers and tenants. When a male tenant or farmworker contracts his rent or wage rate with the landowner, he usually transacts the value of his wife’s (and children’s) labor as well (Putzel and Cunnington 1989: p.18). As in the industrial and service sectors women hired for farmwork are paid less than men and are discriminated against in the allocation of jobs. In some haciendas for instance, female workers receive only P5 to P7 a day compared to the already meager P12 salary men get. Women’s low wages provide landowners the leverage to keep men’s wages down. In times of crisis in Negros Occidental, women are hired to replace men in planting cane points and weeding the fields for which they receive one-half to two-thirds of the men’s wage (Putzel and Cunnington 1989: p. 18).
Men and women can both benefit from a reform program that improves the farmer’s position in society and the economy, particularly if women’s rights are entrenched within the program.
Environment
Agrarian reform has the potential of making a major contribution to developing an ecologically sound and sustainable agricultural system. Insecurity over the land, persistent poverty and export-oriented production have contributed to the destruction of Philippine forests, the depletion of the soil, pesticide poisoning and the destruction of marine life.
Absentee ownership is another cause of environmental destruction. If people controlling the land are not close to that land, they are removed from the consequences of ecological degradation and are less likely to become strong environmental advocates. Absentee owners are more likely not to favor crop diversification because the sharing system for this type of planting is very complicated compared to single-cropping. A fundamental principle of steward ship is that the people who have control over the resources should be the ones to reap the benefits and bear the consequences of their exploitation.
The continued destruction of the ecology aggravates the sad state of the country’s farmlands. Less than a million hectares of primary forests remain.
Three decades ago, the country bad 16 million hectares of timberlands (half of the total land area). Based on the current deforestation rate, all primary forests would be wiped out before the year 2000.
In contrast, farmers who have land tenurial security and have access to farm inputs, credit and new techniques are more likely to use appropriate technology and to provide long-term improvements within the agricultural sector.
An essential component of agrarian reform, therefore, must be the promotion of agriculture and agro-forestry which conserve the soil and help prevent erosion.
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