Food security is not the only reason we need to plant again

T

he first time I touched soil, I didn’t understand what it carried. I only knew the smell of it after rain, how it clung to my shoes, how it softened when pressed by bare hands. Later, I learned that soil is not just dirt — it is history, memory, and possibility all layered together.

In the Philippines today, that soil is weakening. Generations of overuse and neglect have left it tired, fragile, less able to feed us. But that same earth, that same dirt, provides the answers to our problems.

My team learned this firsthand in our work with biochar, watching how lifeless earth could be coaxed into fertility again with care and patience. One of the best outputs for biochar is coconut husks, a solution that we simply aren’t tapping into properly.

In seeing that, our team understood something deeper: The problem is not just in the ground, but in ourselves. We have to do something about it.

READ: We Were Meant to Grow Things

The simple fact is that our farmers are aging. The average farmer in the Philippines is now over 57 years old. Their children look at the land and see exhaustion instead of opportunity, so they leave. They move to Manila, Cebu, Davao — chasing call center jobs, BPO contracts, a chance at a “better life.”

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ut this “better life” is not forever. A.I. is changing the future of work faster than anyone can track. What looks stable today may be gone tomorrow. And in that economic uncertainty, farming — the oldest profession, the one rooted in sun and soil — may turn out to be one of the most resilient paths we have left.

We import much of what we eat now. Rice, vegetables, even fruit that once grew freely in our backyards is shipped in from abroad. This unnecessary dependence makes us vulnerable — to climate shocks, to global trade wars, to the whims of international markets we do not control.

But food security is not the only reason to plant again. Farming keeps families together. Too often, parents show their love by crossing oceans to provide for children they only see through video calls.

When we farm, we create livelihoods right here, at home. We give people a reason to stay. We rebuild dignity in the very act of growing.

When we put something in the soil — a seed, a sapling, a coconut or a stalk of rice — we are not just growing crops. We are growing roots against the drift of our people. We are saying that the Philippines can feed itself, and that caring for the land is not a burden but an inheritance.

We were meant to grow things. And if we forget that, we risk losing not just our soil, but our story.

This is why we plant. — GMA Integrated News