""",. ., ===:L =='=-=...,==---...-,..-~---CT'!·=---,..===:--~·--·-==-~"'" The Magna Carta of Small Farmers (Republic Act No. 7607) was enacted on June 4, 1992, thus antedating the recent international efforts towards the adoption of the universal declaration44 on the rights of peasants and other people working on rural areas. Table 7 45 shows the rights and obligations of the small farmers, as follows: 1. Support to price program 1. Establish farmers~ organizations 2. Ensure market 3. Be covered with social security 4. Avail credit system at minimal interest rates and minimum collateral requirements 5. Avail farm inputs and services 6. Be heard and represented in the government 7. Be updated on market prices and demands, policies and farming practices 8. Benefit from natural resources 9. Assume certain processing and marketing functions of government agencies 10. Pursue appropriate education and skills development ll.Avail technicat assistance from government 2. Adopt recommended farm practices and inputs 3. Comply the terms and conditions in availing assistance 4. Adopt recommended production and marketing _a~~---- . . .... _ strategies 5. Provide reasonable prices and quality products 6. Share labor and material resources to community-based activities 7. Meet local demand requirements to avert shortage that may necessitate importation 8. Partidpate in conservation, protection and development of national patrimony 9. Pay aU fees1 license fees and taxes 10. Contribute to government insurance and sodat security programs ·-·· .. _.--..!1!l!!~r!~e~-he!P. comrnun!!Y deve~t m:o~ R.A. No. 7607 defines small farmer as a natural person dependent on small-scale subsistence farming as their primary source of income and whose sale, barter or exchange or agricultural products do not exceed a gross value of One Hundred Eighty Thousand Pesos (P180,000) per annum based on 1992 constant prices. The law does not distinguish a small farmer as between IPs and non-IPs. The law provides that it is the declared state policy to give highest priority to the development of agriculture such that equitable distribution of benefits and opportunities is realized through the empowerment of small farmers. Certainly, the legal framework regulating agriculture has evolved with due consideration to the policy objectives of the government. According to the National Economic and Development Authority (2016), 46 the goals of agriculture, and agribusiness in particular, are the following: • • • • Raise productivity Achieve food security Increase incomes of small farmers Protect poor consumers from high prices Stated otherwise, agriculture is perceived as the means through which said goals would be attained. Agriculture is not an end in and by itself. 44 On September 27,2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 21/19 during its 21 51 session, 3'J'h meeting. Titled "Promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas," the Resolution provides for the establishment of an open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIWG) with the mandate of negotiating, finalizing and submitting to the Human Rights Council a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, on the basis of the draft submitted by the Advisory Committee. This is the first official initiative on the part of the Human Rights Council to deliberate on the concept of land rights as human rights. Since then, the OEIWG held three sessions: on July 15-19, 2013; February 2-6, 2015; and May 17-20, 2016. 45 World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF-Philippines) (June 2009) Policy Brief: A Closer Look on the Magna Carta of Small Farmers in the Philippines. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf docs/Pnadu403.pdf (accessed Oct 21, 2016) 46 NEDA presentation delivered by Mr. Nheden Amiel Same during the August 17, 2016 focus group discussion on human rights and agribusiness 24