Cai Ordinario
Business Mirror
May 15, 2011

JOBLESS Filipinos, especially those who are willing to work but could not access employment opportunities, should also be included in the relocation plan of the government for informal settlers, according to Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Senate chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food.

In a statement, Pangilinan said the government intends to relocate some 500,000 informal settlers in Metro Manila to agricultural lands. This plan can also help jobless Filipinos explore the opportunities in the agriculture sector and become “farmtreneurs.”

Pangilinan said leasing agricultural lands to both informal settlers and unemployed Filipinos will encourage younger Filipinos to engage in agriculture. He stressed that Filipino farmers in the countryside are already aging.

Pangilinan said that the average age of Filipino farmers is 57 years old while there are over a million jobless Filipinos every year.

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