Retirement Program for Marginal Farmers

Farmers are the backbone of our country. People depend on them for food. This fact should have inspired the government to give due recognition to all farmers when they get old and are no longer capable of tilling the land. But what usually happens is otherwise. More farmers live miserably when they reach old age. The main reason for this is the absence of a government program that would look at the security of farmers whose income could not even meet the needs of their families.

This problem could be solved by requiring farmers to plant trees along the boundary line of their farm lots, along banks of creeks, rivers and gullies, in steep slopes, and in areas no longer suitable for raising agricultural cash crops. A single tree which has been properly planted and tended would earn at least one thousand pesos (PhP 1,000.00) after 10 years with an initial investment of five pesos (PhP 5.00) for the seedling, fertilizer and labor. The amount can be obtained in lump sum after the period.

Raising a single tree would mean a forced savings of thirty centavos (PhP 0.30) daily for the farmer. If a farmer therefore has planted 100 trees, he would have saved thirty pesos (PhP 30.00) daily; for 1000 trees, it would be three hundred pesos (PhP 300.00). If a farmer desires to get one million pesos in ten years time, he only needs to plant 1000 trees with initial investment of five thousand pesos (PhP 5,000.00) and tend the trees for one to two years. After that, his trees will take care of his forced savings.

This idea is a potential financial security for marginal and sub-marginal farmers. It would be likened to a retirement plan that would mature after 10 years or more but the trees will take care of the premiums. The face value of the plan would depend on the number of trees that a farmer could plant and raise until harvestable age. Compared to other crops, planting trees would be more advantageous because the farmer would only need to care of the trees in one or two years, and after that the trees will grow and thrive by themselves. The farmer will only go back when it is time to harvest.

While the farmer is secured, the environment is also improved. The biggest portion of the true value of a tree - its ecological value - will benefit a great number of living things inhabiting the ecosystems, near and far. The amount that the farmer would get in harvesting the tree is only the salvage value. Planting trees is a wise investment. It does not only provide financial security for a farmer but it also secures the health of the environment.