Farming

How do you like to have your own farm? If you’re the one who have not actually worked in the farm, you would say it’s exciting. But it’s not fun to those who toiled daily under the torturing heat of the noonday sun.

I wanted to pursue agriculture when I was in high school. Maybe I was just so brainwashed by the UP system saying that agriculture is the backbone of the economy. I wanted to become an agriculturist, one who seeks to improve the agricultural sector. And what do I know about farming? Easy! I know how to plant camote (sweet potato) of course, if that is the only basic requirement.

I would like to own a small farm. I’ll have a greenhouse and a nursery occupying 400 sqm on a 3-5 hectare property. I’ll plant a hundred mango trees. Perhaps, I’ll also include langka, breadfruit, avocado, guava, and a few other fruit-bearing trees in my orchard. Then perhaps, 2,000 sqm will be for the veggies. Bell pepper, tomato, okra, lettuce, etc… Then there’s a piggery with a hundred swine heads. And I am supposed to have fun managing my own farm.

But the foremost question remained unanswered: Where will my farm be? In a magazine, I saw movie stars displaying their farms. I was filled with envy.

15 years after high school, I still wonder about farm life. I’ve seen poor farmers. My grandparents were farmers, tilling land which they did not own. They can’t even send their children to school. Perhaps it’s one reason why I was dissuaded to take up such course in college.

But with the advent of technology, even a small farm can have plenty of produce. I’ve seen the works of EU-funded agricultural projects in the rural areas. If only the beneficiaries were given enough sustainable support, it would have leapfrogged agricultural development.

Ah! I can only dream about this with a sigh. Owning a farm remains a daydream, coz I don’t even own a square inch of land.