The UP group is after flattening the curve first, that is, no new cases reported of Covid-19, before the lifting of the lockdown. The SEARCA Director is looking at the already flattening curve of the number of farmers, their income and GDP! A hole-istic view vs a holistic view.
The UP group is afraid that without a lockdown, the virus will become badder; the SEARCA Director is afraid the continued lockdown makes PH agriculture even badder! The UP group is thinking of thousands; the SEARCA Director is thinking of millions of food producers and millions more adversely affected by the producers adversely affected. The UP group is counting its big data; the SEARCA Director is counting the millions of farmers.
The UP people are happy in their offices – the Filipino farmers are unhappy in their fields and homes. The UP people forget that the human body’s first shield against disease is healthy food, and that if you lockdown agriculture, you are solving some problems and creating a million more!
The UP people want to help in theory, sooner or later; the SEARCA Director wants to help in practice today, now! (image of Modern Warfare from Activision[1])
Jonathan Cellona of ABS-CBN News says the UP group says[2]:
Prematurely lifting the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon could spell catastrophe and might result in surge of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country.
Melody Mendoza Aguiba reports in the 08 May 2020 of ABS-CBN News[3] what the SEARCA Director is thinking, that is, “Rethink agriculture interventions as Covid-19 lockdown reduces number of farmers, their income, and GDP”:
The government should “rethink” interventions in agriculture as the Covid-19 lockdown has further cut number of farmers and their income – resulting in depressed demand for goods, food insecurity, and declining Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Onto the second month of the lockdown, a decline in Philippines’ agricultural production is being placed at 2.97% due to a decrease in the number of farmers tilling the land.
Due to lockdown, mobility restrictions result (in) quantity reduction in farm labor. If it continues longer, this would translate to reduction in agriculture productivity,
The UP researchers are 3: Guido David (Institute of Mathematics), Ranjit Singh Rye (Department of Political Science), and Ma Patricia Agbulos (OCTA Research). Their paper is titled, “Covid-19 Forecasts In The Philippines: Insights For Policy Making.”
I believe in The One, not The Three. I believe in The One’s insight for policy making now, not later!
SEARCA Director Glenn B Gregorio said:
The loss of income and economic slowdown would also result in decrease in demand, particularly among the farmers and farming families with no safety nets.
Ms Melody said the Director also said:
The downturn in agricultural production is worsened by farmers’ limited access to farm inputs and markets to sell produce. This has already resulted in profit losses and wastage of farm produce such as that in vegetable capital Benguet.
UP Theory versus SEARCA Reality. Over researcher Data, I choose farmer Reality. No, nobody can eat Data!@517
[1] https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.activision.com%2Fcall-of-duty%2F2019-11%2FModern-Warfare-Tactical-Map-Intel-Krovnik-Farmland&psig=AOvVaw3L1S3OKX4-AlWa3y1wiaOM&ust=1589312127642000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLj8y9DHrOkCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
[2] https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/23/20/university-of-the-philippines-up-study-on-enhanced-community-quarantine-recommendations
[3] https://growthfeatures.com/2020/05/08/rethink-agriculture-interventions-as-covid-19-lockdown-reduces-number-of-farmers-their-income-and-gdp-searca-chief/?fbclid=IwAR1oZIjvOx8L3N6F7lVGSnoIuJR7nVr1_3lP-l2SK7Y7Cji3d2bp-zIatOs
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