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Status of Philippine Agriculture

- The agriculture sector in the Philippines declined 1.7% in 2021, driven largely by drops in the livestock sector including hog production. - The crops sector grew 2.3% led by a 28.6% increase in corn production. Fisheries increased slightly by 0.1% with blue crab growing 33.1%. - Despite challenges from the pandemic and typhoons, palay production reached an all-time high of 19.96 million metric tons, 3.4% above the previous record though slightly below the department of agriculture's 20.4 million ton target for the year. - The department of agriculture remains focused on programs to boost food security through technology promotion, farm assistance, and consolidation efforts.

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72 views4 pages

Status of Philippine Agriculture

- The agriculture sector in the Philippines declined 1.7% in 2021, driven largely by drops in the livestock sector including hog production. - The crops sector grew 2.3% led by a 28.6% increase in corn production. Fisheries increased slightly by 0.1% with blue crab growing 33.1%. - Despite challenges from the pandemic and typhoons, palay production reached an all-time high of 19.96 million metric tons, 3.4% above the previous record though slightly below the department of agriculture's 20.4 million ton target for the year. - The department of agriculture remains focused on programs to boost food security through technology promotion, farm assistance, and consolidation efforts.

Uploaded by

Ka Hilie Escote Miguel
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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STATUS OF PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

Issues and challenges


Low growth in agriculture is ultimately traceable to the slow expansion in the factors of
production as well as the weak growth in total factor productivity.
Land. The Food and Agriculture Organization (2020) estimates the country’s arable land at
12.44 million hectares (ha). Since the rural population has been growing, farm sizes have
also been declining, hence, there is no room for growth in this factor. By 2012, the average
farm size was down to 1.29 ha. Likewise, fragmentation has also prevented the realization
of economies of scale, exacerbated by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP), which has broken up farmlands and suppressed land rental markets toward
reconsolidation of operations. Using farm household panel data, Adamopoulos and
Restuccia (2020) found that CARP had reduced average farm size by 34 percent,
agricultural productivity by 17 percent, and the share of landless individuals by 20 percent.
The weak enforcement of the CARP has inadvertently prevented a more severe
productivity impact. It is estimated that productivity would have dropped by 26 percent
under full enforcement of the program. Labor. The number of workers in agriculture has
been declining both in relative and absolute terms (Briones 2017a) up to 2019 (Table 2).
Population growth, diminishing farm size, and declining relative incomes in agriculture have
incentivized the shift out of agriculture. However, the pathway to the sustained growth of
agriculture is not to restrain this out-migration but to raise the productivity of agricultural
workers.
Risk. One reason why banks shun agriculture is the high risk of recovering loans. Table 1
shows the volatile output trends in the agriculture sector. A spectacular example of this is
the steep contraction in hog inventory in 2020–2021 due to ASF, which led to a spike in
pork prices in 2021 (PIDS forthcoming). Agricultural production is risky and unfamiliar to
many urban-based loan officers. One instrument to reduce risk and improve agricultural
finance is through agricultural insurance, which is deeply intertwined with credit. Many
farmers in the Philippines have become aware of the agricultural insurance program owing
to its linkage with credit provision (Reyes et al. 2019). Infrastructure. Aside from private
capital, public capital stock, particularly rural infrastructure, is also a key determinant of
agricultural growth. However, the country has been underinvesting in infrastructure.
According to Llanto (2012), poor rural infrastructure is a contributor to low agricultural
productivity.
Public spending. The budget for agriculture has been high and rising in recent decades.
The total budget for agriculture in 2018 was PHP 142.7 billion, which is about 8.9 percent
of the sector’s gross value added, up from 7.4 percent in 2017. Obligations for the sector
rose further to PHP 147.33 billion in 2020 before withdrawing to PHP 142.5 billion in
2021. Perhaps, no other sector can muster this much support from the government budget.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) received the largest budget, followed by the National
Irrigation Administration. Gov’t allocated 95 Billion to address surmounting food and
agriculture global challenges onto the “new world”
Challenges faced by Philippine agriculture and UPLB's [University of the Philippines
Los Baños] strategic response towards sustainable development and internalization
[2015]
Sanchez, F.C.Jr.;

The Philippines being an agricultural country need to invest in promoting inclusive


growth, and build more sustainable agriculture and food systems, that are resilient
to calamities and respond effectively to climate change impact. The main goal is to
develop the agriculture sector to be able to attain food self sufficiency, uplift the
rural community and increase the income of the farmers. Agriculture's contribution to
the economy is estimated to be about 40 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and
two-thirds of jobs arise from agriculture. However, agricultural sector has been beset with
persistent challenges resulting in low farm incomes, low rural employment, lack of food
security, and meager agricultural competitiveness. Among the 17 targeted areas of the
Global Sustainable Development Goals, the Philippines should specifically pursue the goals
to end/minimize hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture. The status of Philippine agriculture as well as the challenges and
strategies for sustainable development were discussed. Challenges identified were lack of
important provisions that will guarantee food security and reduce poverty in the
countryside, lack of programs that will link agriculture with the industry, and insufficient
activities aimed to vigorously transfer advanced production, post-harvest, and processing
technologies to the stakeholders, among others.

Agriculture sector dips 1.7% in 2021

Catherine Talavera - The Philippine Star 


January 27, 2022 | 12:00am
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the value of production in
local agriculture inched up to P495.5 billion in the last quarter of 2021 rom P492.8 billion
in the same period in 2020.
Cesar Ramirez, file
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s agriculture sector fell by 1.7 percent in 2021, mainly
driven by declines in the livestock sector.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the value of production in
local agriculture inched up to P495.5 billion in the last quarter of 2021 rom P492.8 billion
in the same period in 2020.
This is the first increase from the four consecutive quarters of declines in the value of
agricultural output.

However, the total value of production in local agriculture for 2021 dropped to P1.76
trillion from P1.79 trillion.

The livestock sector led the decline in the fourth quarter, registering a 9.7 percent drop,
which accounted for 13.8 percent of the country’s total value of agricultural production.

For the entire year, the livestock sector reported a 17 percent decline.

PSA data showed that hog production continued to drop, but at a slower pace in the fourth
quarter by 12.6 percent.

In contrast, production of carabao, goat and dairy posted increments in the fourth quarter,
with carabao registering the highest growth at 5.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the poultry sector posted the highest growth in the fourth quarter at 2.7
percent. This accounted for 12.5 percent of the total value of agricultural production.

For the full year, however, the poultry sector posted a 0.3 percent decline, lower than the
3.5 percent decline a year ago.

Chicken eggs led the growth at 12.7 percent, while chicken, duck and duck eggs posted
declines in the fourth quarter.

The crops sector, which accounted for 59.1 percent of the total value of agricultural
production, reported a 2.3 percent growth.

Corn led the growth with a 28.6 percent increase in production, a reversal of the 18.6
percent decline in the previous quarter.

For the entire year, corn production grew 2.1 percent.

The fisheries sector, which contributed 14.6 percent to the total value of agricultural
production, increased by 0.1 percent. Blue crab or alimasag posted the highest growth at
33.1 percent from a 20.1 percent decline in the previous year.

In a statement yesterday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) pointed out that despite
mobility restrictions due to the pandemic and the damage caused by Typhoon Odette, the
country’s palay production registered an all-time high of 19.96 million metric tons, 3.4
percent more than the previous record of 19.29 million MT.

The figure, however, is lower than the DA’s target of 20.4 million MT for the year.
“We would have easily breached the 20-million-ton level as Typhoon Odette damaged more
than 130,000 metric tons of palay,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

“Nonetheless, it shows that we are on the right track in our continuing efforts to increase
the production of our major staples, in partnership with millions of our farmers, fishers,
livestock and poultry raisers, local government units, private sector and agri-fishery
industry stakeholders,” he said.

Dar stressed that the DA has been relentless in implementing its programs aimed at
attaining food security.

“These include massive promotion among farmers, fishers and entrepreneurs of relevant,
efficient and sustainable technologies and innovations, and providing them needed
capacities through technical, farm mechanization and consolidation, financial and
marketing assistance,” Dar said.

“Overall, we will remain focused in the implementation of our planned programs and
projects in the remaining months of the Duterte administration, as we bequeath a solid
foundation and legacy to the succeeding leadership,” he said.

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