Republic of the Philippines

CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY

Don Severino de las Alas Campus
Indang, Cavite

College of Engineering and Information Technology

Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering

Introduction to Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering-ABEN21

Laboratory Exercise No. 2

Name: Diana Marie Z. Peñalba___ Date Due: September 12, 2019

Lab Schedule: Thursday 1-4:00PM Date Submitted: ____________

Challenges in the Field of ABE

I. INTRODUCTION

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers are uniquely qualified to use their

knowledge of mathematics, biological and physical sciences, and engineering

principles to solve problems relating to the production, handling and processing of

biological materials for food, feed, fiber and fuel; the preservation of natural resources

and environment quality; and the design and production of machine systems. A major

in agricultural and Biosystems engineering can serve a broad range of career

interests and can provide excellent career opportunities for men and women from

diverse backgrounds. Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Biosystems in Engineering

have four major fields which are: AB Agricultural Machinery, AB Soil and Water

Conservation, AB Agricultural Processing, and AB Agricultural Structures.

The Philippines is an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares,

47% of which is agricultural land. In the Philippines, prime agricultural lands are

located around the main urban and high population density areas. Agriculture plays

an important role for our country’s economy but most of us Filipinos does not pay any

importance to this field. The cultivation of agriculture in this country is not given much
 attention and so is Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. Thinking about what

program to take at college as a student, most of the time agricultural engineering is

not included in the top preferences and some ended up taking agricultural

engineering because of some other reason rather than actually wanting to take it.

Most people think that this field of work is not something that someone should pursue

and most don’t even have the idea that this course exists.

This perspective of most Filipino People brought challenges in the field of

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, and also great opportunities in this field.

This challenges and opportunities may have a positive or negative effect on this field,

it may be for the better or for the worse, and here we are going to answer what are

these challenges and opportunities actually are.

II. OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the different challenges in the field of ABE;

2. Enumerate the government programs and/or interventions, addressing the

challenges in ABE; and

3. Discuss the opportunities in the field of ABE.

III. MATERIALS

Appropriate references (book, journal, e-book, e-journal etc.) and drawing

paraphernalia.

IV. METHODOLOGY

In order to provide and obtain information about the challenges and

opportunities in the field of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering here in the

Philippines, the method I used was researching. Researching is used to study a

subject in detail, especially in order to discover new information or reach a new

understanding. In researching for information and ideas I used the internet. To make

sure that the internet sources used are valid and reliable I looked for sites from

established institutions and made sure that the authors are not anonymous.
V. DISCUSSION

The Philippines, with an estimated total population of 103,775,002 and an

annual growth rate of 1.9%, remains to have an agriculture-based economy.

Agricultural education in the country is institutionalized through the 110 State

Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and the national university (University of the

Philippines) that were created by the Acts of Congress. However, of the three million

students enrolled in higher education only 2.8% are enrolled in agri-culture, forestry,

and fisheries degree programs. Some of the reasons for the decline in enrolment in

agriculture are: a) negative perception of agriculture as a profession; b) insufficient

government investment in SUCs; and c) rapid urbanization of agricultural areas

(Zamora, 2014).

a.) Agricultural degrees is not an attractive profession, most of the

students in our generation don’t know the importance of agricultural fields

in our country. Most of us thinks that working in the field of agriculture is

lowly, insignificant, and that this won’t bring any fortune to them, in fact even

the children of those who are already in this field seek to find other

professions. This negative perception causes students to avoid being in this

field or prioritizing other fields rather than agricultural fields. The small

amount of graduates from agricultural fields causes the lack of workers to

improve our agriculture. Since graduates from agriculture is lacking a larger

demand for work is available, agri-culture related jobs still account to 19%

of the job market (De Vera et al., 2010) making it easier for agricultural

fields’ graduates to find work. Though the wage of the agricultural sector is

lower than that of the industrial and even the services sectors. This gives

the indelible impression among the youth that agriculture is a low paying

job (Zamora, 2015). Between 2011 and 2014, 70% of graduates in agri-

culture, fishery, and natural resources degree programs were able to find a

job within six months. Among those employed, survey data show that
 graduates usually start out with lowly jobs such as support staff, clerical

jobs or assistants but eventually went up the ladder to become technical

and professional supervisors and managers. Graduates are employed in

the following sectors in descending order: private companies, private

multinational corporations, local governments, public schools, national

government agencies, non-government organizations, and private schools.

About 9% were self-employed primarily in retail business, services, and

manufacturing/producing (De Vera et. al., 2010).

The declining enrolment in agricultural degree programs is a worldwide

phenomenon. From SY 2005-2006, enrolment in SUCs offering agriculture

degree programs declined by almost 6,000 in SY 2008-2009 (Zamora,

2014).

This lead to the raise of organizations offering scholarship to the students

who will take an agricultural related course.

b.) Lack of government investment in SUCs (State Universities and

Colleges), particularly in infrastructure and classroom facilities, and faculty

development. The present administration’s policy which is to “gradually

reduce the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient

and financially independent, given their ability to raise their income and to

utilize it for their programs and projects,” (Patria, 2011) will inevitably result

either by commercialization or privatization that would divert them from their

mandates. Alternatively, SUCs could raise their tuition and other fees but

this would make agricultural education more inaccessible to the poor and
 further drive away students from taking up agriculture degree programs

(Zamora, 2014). The lesser the students that can take agricultural

engineering the lesser the probability of raising the knowledge that we have

about agriculture today. The lack of support of the government in

agricultural degrees only makes people think that this field is not really

important or needed.

c.) Rapid urbanization of agricultural areas. The conversion of agricultural

land to non-agricultural uses, and the employment opportunities arising

there, resulted in rural migration with more youth heading to the cities for

high paying employment. This has also shifted the interest of the youth to

other more lucrative degree programs perceived to be required by

modernizing societies such as computer science, engineering, and

medicine.

http://www.psa.gov.ph

This has also resulted in the dwindling job market. In many cases,

agricultural technicians who have degrees in education, commerce or

criminology are appointed as such because of political patronage. This

further reduced the market for agriculture graduates.

 Even those who would like to pursue research are declined due to

government under investments in agriculture RD&E .On the other hand, the

number of masters and doctorate students continued to increase mainly

due to current highly competitive job markets requiring advanced degrees

for higher positions.

Between 2011 and 2014, 70% of graduates in agriculture, fishery, and natural

resources degree programs were able to find a job within six months (De Vera et. al.,

2010). Among those employed, survey data show that graduates usually start out with

lowly jobs such as support staff, clerical jobs or assistants but eventually went up the

ladder to become technical and professional supervisors and managers. Graduates

are employed in the following sectors in descending order: private companies, private

multinational corporations, local governments, public schools, national government

agencies, non-government organizations, and private schools. About 9% were self-

employed primarily in retail business, services, and manufacturing/producing.

(Zamora, 2014). This Statement just shows how wrong is the perception of most
 people about agricultural fields it proves how fast it is to have work after graduating in

an agricultural degree.

Agriculture is dying in the Philippines

Sara de Guzman (2018)
“Agricultural land is being developed into industrial areas, shopping malls and
subdivisions. Farmers are growing old and their children have shifted into other careers.
The agriculture industry has not progressed in ages. Many of our agricultural schools are
producing office-oriented workers who would much rather do paper work than help
improve the agricultural sector of the country. Not to mention the many horror stories of
corruption at the Department of Agriculture. Even if the Philippines is primarily an
agricultural country, we have not done anything to ‘cultivate’ this sector. In the sixties, we
were ahead in Asia. Students from different countries came here to study agriculture and
its technology. But what happened? They are now better than us. Somehow, we lost in the
race. The farmers lack support, training and a moral boost. First, they lack basic skills in
farming. Many are not educated or are only elementary graduates. Second, good
fertilizers, pesticides and seeds are imported from other countries, making them very
expensive and unaffordable for the lowly farmer. Third, the government has not developed
a good infrastructure for farmers (i.e. farm-to-market roads, irrigation system, drying
facilities and milling centers, etc.). Fourth, most of our farmers do not own the land they till.
They cannot maximize the use of the land that results in low income. And since they are
just tenants, some landowners require a 50-50 share of the product, thus leaving only half
of the produce to the farmers. Fifth, farmers have difficulty in financing their farming
endeavors due to the high rates of borrowing institutions. And when harvest time arrives,
the money from the sale is only enough to pay their debts and nothing is left for them.
Sixth, farmers lack protection from the middlemen who take advantage of their
weaknesses. The middlemen buy their products at a very low cost and the Department of
Agriculture always seems to be turning a blind eye on these culprits. Agriculture
constitutes the foundation of food security. As such, it is imperative that all concerned
bodies work together, innovate continuously, and collaborate in research and development
to meet future challenges.”

This are some of the parts of the article written by Sara de Guzman and this is

an eye opener for all the people. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering might be

facing many challenges but with the proper way of disseminating and proving that this

field is worth the hassle, with proper support from the government and by protecting

agricultural areas, the raise of our field is a definite possibility.

VI. CONCLUSION

In this study the main reasons for the challenges in Agricultural and Biosystems

Engineering are known. The three main reasons for these challenges to occur are,

because of the wrong perception of the people in this field, the lack of support of the
government towards the improvement of this field, and the urbanization of agricultural

areas. These three causes most of the challenges in the field of ABE.

The perception of the people towards these field brings big challenges.

Agricultural fields may not be an attractive profession but it is an essential one. The

wrong perspective of the people, especially the students about agricultural fields lead

to the small amount of people who are interested in this field, resulting to small amount

of graduates in agricultural field making this field a bit low-grade. The lack of support

from government organizations also brings challenges in our field since lack of support

from the government means lack of classrooms, facilities, equipment, or colleges and

universities offering this field, which will result to the low amount of people studying or

working in this field. Lastly, the urbanization of agricultural areas. Urbanization of

Agricultural areas means smaller area to improve and conduct research and

development for agricultural fields but ideas and innovations are already being

processed or tested for being able to have area for agriculture in urban areas.

This challenges are just some of the challenges that Agricultural Fields are

facing, but we are hoping to turn this challenges into opportunities that will lead to the

success of ABE. Agricultural workers are doing their best to cope up with this

challenges and we should all help by simply trying to understand how essential this

field is rather than belittling or underestimating this field.

VII. REFERENCE(S)

 Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (2018), North Dakota State

University. https://www.ndsu.edu/majors/agbiosys/.

 Agriculture (2002), De La Salle University Manila.

https://pinas.dlsu.edu.ph/gov/agriculture.html

 Research (2019), Cambridge University Dictionary.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/researching

 Zamora, O. B. (2014), Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable

Agricultural Education in the Philippines and in the ASEAN Region.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277076077_Challenges_and_Oppor

tunities_for_Sustainable_Agricultural_Education_in_the_Philippines_and_in_t

he_ASEAN_Region

 De Guzman, S. S. (2018), Agriculture is dying in the Philippines.

https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2018/06/18/1825542/agriculture-dying-

philippines

 Perez, J. (2019), Urban Population in the Philippines: Results of the 2015

Census of Population. http://www.psa.gov.ph/content/urban-population-

philippines-results-2015-census-population