The rural population is slowly “dying”

Experts predict a shortage of farmers in the next 10 to 12 years.

Our farmers are facing extinction, and the Philippine countryside is dying with them.

While we worry about the overpopulation of Metro Manila, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) has sounded a much darker alarm: rural regions like Bicol and 13 other provinces are physically shrinking.

With the average farmer now aged 57 to 59, we are losing the very hands that feed this nation. In less than 12 years, we won’t be debating food prices — we will be wondering who is left to till the soil at all.

New data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reveals that the national growth rate plummeted to 0.80% (2020-2024), down from 1.63% in the previous five years. The Bicol Region has already recorded a negative population growth rate, joined by 13 other provinces—including Marinduque, Romblon, and Mountain Province—where residents are trading their ancestral lands for city sidewalks in search of work.

The irony is as sharp as it is alarming: we are an agricultural nation whose stewards are an endangered species. The average Filipino farmer is now 57 to 59 years old, and experts warn of a critical shortage within the next decade.

As the youth pivot toward the BPO and service sectors in the city, we are fast-tracking a future where we must depend entirely on imports to put rice on our tables by 2030.

There is hope in the “agri-tech” revolution. The Department of Agriculture (DA) is doubling down on programs like the Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) and the MAYA Internship, which provide funding, mentorship, and high-tech tools to transform farming into a profitable agripreneurship.

However, technology alone cannot save a dying town. To ensure no one is left behind, we must bridge the gap between urban priority and rural reality. It’s time to bring the same level of investment, infrastructure, and opportunity to our fields as we do to our skyscrapers. Our food security depends on it.

Let us all protect and save our farmers.

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