Former senator and senatorial candidate Kiko Pangilinan is pushing for cluster farming in the Philippines to increase the incomes of small-scale farmers and fisherfolk through the expansion of their production and access to bigger markets.



During an open forum for the event “Activity: Kakaba-kaba Ka Ba? Dealing With Uncertainties in the RP’s Political Future” in Quezon City on Saturday, April 5, the former senator underscored the importance of land reforms, such as stopping the conversion of irrigated agricultural lands and supporting “true” agrarian reform.



However, he also lamented that the country’s farming practices are “outdated,” and underscored the need for cluster farming and support services to achieve food security and uplift the lives of farmers and fisherfolk.



“Until and unless we mobilize resources around farming communities and fishing communities and build their capacities, then we will not be able to get the full benefits of land reform,” Pangilinan, who also owns and manages his own farm in Cavite, said.


Chief of his agenda if elected to the Senate in the coming May 2025 midterm polls is the clustering of farms.


The former senator cited Taiwan and Thailand, which have both clustered their smaller farms into larger 30 to 50 hectares of agricultural land. In the Philippines, he said the average size of farmland is only around 9,000 square meters.


“(We need) cluster farms for economies of scale,” he stressed, referring to the grouping of interconnected producers, such as small farms, to transform the system from a subsistence crop production to a market-based production system.


Aside from cluster farming, Pangilinan also plans to increase support services—access to credit, access to market, organizing farmers into cooperatives, infrastructure, and post-harvest facilities like cold storage—for farmers and fisherfolk.


Cold storage facilities, he explained, would allow farmers to store their excess harvest for a prolonged period, so that they wouldn’t be forced to sell to abusive middlemen at a low price.


“If given the opportunity, precisely, then we will push for a six-year window of increasing government budgetary support to agriculture so that we can achieve food security and get our farmers out of poverty,” he said.


Pangilinan, who is running with the advocacy of food security, stated earlier that he is willing to work with all sides of the political spectrum to end hunger and poverty and achieve food security.