ADVERTISEMENTLenijan’s eldest is currently an office worker in Manila, while his youngest will join a fast food crew next month. Bitter truthThe report magnified a bitter truth that has been gnawing at the agricultural sector for almost a decade: 15 out of 17 regions in the country reported losses in agricultural employment between 2010 and 2017. From a workforce of 12.25 million in 2010, the number of Filipinos involved in agriculture has plummeted by 25 percent to 9.07 million in 2017, the Neda report said. ADVERTISEMENTAt P280.37 a day, the current daily average pay for agricultural workers is only half the minimum daily wage of Metro Manila employees. “We cannot stop these agricultural farmers and workers from leaving just because we want to keep production up,” Sugar Regulatory Administration chief Hermenegildo Serafica said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 16, 2019 21:00 UTC