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Challenging dominant
orthodoxies on Filipino
youth’s perceptions on
rice farming
REALLY, THEY
HATE FARMING?:
Jaime A Manalo IV &
Elske van de FliertPaper presented during the Crop Science Societies of the Philippines Conference, 16-20 April 2012
In the next 15 minutes …
• Introduction (rural youth outmigration; the need to rethink)
• Materials and methods
• Results and discussion
• Proposal for youth engagement
• Conclusions
Perceptions that cast so much negative light on youth’s indirect or direct participation in rice farming should be reviewed, if not abandoned.
MAIN ARGUMENT
MAIN ARGUMENT
While it is true that it is difficult to directly engage the youth in rice farming, indirect engagement is entirely possible and should be encouraged.
RURAL YOUTH OUTMIGRATION
• Young individuals comprise 35% of all the Overseas Filipino Workers (DOLE 2010)
GOOGLE IMAGES
• As young individuals, 15-24 years old, get some education they take on jobs in key cities even if farming were to be more profitable (Paris et al 2010)• Masculinisation of rural areas and feminisation of urban areas (Gultiano and Urich 2005)
RURAL YOUTH OUTMIGRATION
GOOGLE IMAGES
ALERT!• Leaving rural areas= no
interest in farming?
• Interest in farming= direct involvement in farmwork?
THE NEED TO RETHINK
Is it really a case that
they don’t want to farm,
or they just want to do
farming differently?
THE NEED TO RETHINK
Leavers
Returners
GOOGLE IMAGES
GOOGLE IMAGES
Will-stay-no-matter-whatGOOGLE IMAGES
Youth bulge
Educated
21 M
Sophisticated
ICTs
Social networking capital of the worldSMS Capital of
the world
Innovative ICT applications
What will you do with that?
2 PHENOMENA
RESEARCH SITES & PARTICIPANTS
• Aurora and Albay
• Sought help from Children
International (Albay) and
OpAPA (Aurora)
• 68 research participants
7-10 research
participants per barangay
4 barangays per
province (2 lowland; 2
upland)
APPROACH• Qualitative approach (Interpretivism)
• Lived experiences of the research participants
• “interpretive approaches see people and their interpretations, perceptions, meanings and understandings as the primary data sources” (Mason 2009, p.56)
• Methods used depend on the questions asked
METHODS
METHODS: Time Transect
METHODS: Mobility mapping
METHODS: Photovoice
METHODS:
ANALYSIS
Transcription of recorded
interviews/group discussion
Grouping transcribed data into different
categoriesRegrouping/Reducing
CONFIDENTIALITY AND INFORMED CONSENT
• Participants were asked to sign informed consent letters prior to their participation
• They were also allowed to withdraw their participation at any point
• They were given IDs for the interview transcription
• Careful not to mention their names in the manuscript
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RETHINKING YOUTH’S PERCEPTIONS
• Some time on the farm
• Heart for the farming family
• Vision for the farm
SOME TIME ON THE FARM
• Reasons for minimal involvement
– studies
– familial restrictions
– drudgery of doing farmwork
SOME TIME ON THE FARM
• Drudgery of doing farmwork
– “Those who are dark will even be darker [because of farming]..." (Mobility map7)
– "It’s so hot... Mama, I can’t do this anymore!" (II57)
– “It makes my fingernails dirty... so dark! [referring to picking up of golden apple snails] (II42)
SOME TIME ON THE FARM
HEART FOR THE FARMING FAMILY
Value education
Livelihood
HEART FOR THE FARMING FAMILY
Beautiful house (with swimming pool)
HEART FOR THE FARMING FAMILY
Love that never dies (raison d’etre)
“These are the
elements that
shape me:
myself, my family
and God”(Photovoice5)
HEART FOR THE FARMING FAMILY
VISION FOR THE FARM
“Once a farmer, always a farmer!”
Buy a coconut farm someday
VISION FOR THE FARM
“I want to invest in farming so I can employ our poor
relatives.”
VISION FOR THE FARM
RETHINKING YOUTH’S PERCEPTIONS
• Regard the youth as future rice farming investors, instead of ignoring their potential involvement solely because of their expressed intent to leave the country
• Financing the input-intensive rice farming operations
• Programs to engage the youth will enable them to do that in the future
• Direct involvement at this point can be a fantasy; Indirect involvement is the way to go
Sagot ko ang
Magulang Ko! :mobilising the youth to serve as infomediaries for their parents
ICT applications
Pinoy Rice Knowledge bankPhilRice Text Centre Info hubs (PhilRice, IRRI, DA) Nutrient
Manager
E-rice calendar
AccessICT anxietyComputer and
functional
illiteracies
PovertyInadequate time
Infomediaries
WHY INFOMEDIARIES
BASIS FOR THE INFOMEDIARY PROPOSAL
Frequent visits to computer shops
Mobile phone addiction
"[I text] daily... often,up to 7 hours...’tilmidnight or evenuntil dawn ... until3am"
BASIS FOR THE INFOMEDIARY PROPOSAL
Sends more than 200text messagesdaily!!!
=
ALMOST
INFOMEDIARY CONTINUUM
Activities
CONCLUSION• There are good reasons to believe that
prevailing notions that cast so much negative light on youth’s potential involvement in rice farming should be reviewed, if not abandoned.
• The fear that the youth might abandon farming one day might easily happen if we will not involve them.
• The proposal to mobilise the youth as infomediaries for their parents, which was drawn from the findings of this study, can, if proven effective, serve as a new strategy in extension.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Is it really a case that
they don’t want to
farm, or they just want
to do farming
differently?
My research participants and friends
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