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I am Bryan, 23-years old, from the Philippines. I am the eldest son of a farming family. My mother Maricel has been a widow for 14 years now. She tills two hectares of rice farm.

In 2018, we joined the DICADI Agriculture Cooperative (DACO). For more than a year now, I have been a volunteer worker in the cooperative. As a member of DACO, I attend meetings and work in a production cluster. These exposures made me realize that farmers are a dying breed.

Most farmers discourage their children to go into farming because of the difficulties it entails.

I consider three challenges in agriculture and food security that are needed to be addressed by the government: the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), youth involvement in agriculture, availability of agricultural land, and upholding the tenurial rights of young farmers. These are my recommended solutions for these challenges:

  1. Repel RTL- rice as the staple food of the Filipinos must be secured by the Filipinos themselves
  2. Enact HB 1997 Magna Carta of Young Farmers and HB 5280-Young Farmers Challenge Act
  3. Pass the National Land Use Act (NLUA)

It is my right and responsibility to advocate for the resolution of agriculture concerns.

If these recommendations are approved, I will devote my future to feeding the nation.

Karl Bryan Espiritu
Philippines

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