Agri workers are among lowest paid: NSCB

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – People who produce food to feed the nation—those who work in the agriculture sector—are among the lowest paid in the entire Philippines.

“According to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES), the Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) indicates that agriculture receives the lowest average daily basic wage and salary compared to non-agriculture sectors,” said NSCB secretary general Jose Ramon G. Albert said in the latest issue of “Beyond the Numbers: How Important is Agriculture in the Economy?”.

“Farmers and fishermen are among the least paid workers in the Philippine economy with an average daily wage and salary of P156.8 and P178.43, respectively in 2011.”

Albert noted that salary of agricultural workers is just “comparable” to the wage of ordinary domestic helpers.

“Wage and salary received by those in agriculture are comparable to those of private households with employed persons (i.e., domestic helpers) at P138.99,” he added.

Given that the agriculture sector employs more than a third of the country’s labor force, the high incidence rate of poverty in the sector is of no surprise, Albert said.

“Given the low labor productivity and wage rates, it is not surprising that across basic sectors, poverty incidence is highest among fishermen and farmers at 41.4 percent and 36.7 percent, respectively, in 2009, way above the poverty incidence for the whole country at 26.5 percent in 2009,” he noted.

Albert said that “Zamboanga Peninsula has the highest poverty incidence of farmers (at 54.0%), while Caraga has the highest poverty incidence (of 59.2%) among fisherfolk” among all regions.

He, however, said that government is doing its best to uplift the lives of the Filipino farmers and fisherfolks by implementing a number of policies and programs, such as an increase in the budget of the Department of Agriculture for the last three years.

Government has also improved credit access for the sector through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, and also started to compile information on farmers, fishermen and farm laborers, to be used for distribution of subsidies and benefits.

“Whether the current efforts of government will be successful, only time will truly tell. Many efforts have not yielded fruit, but perhaps, it is time also for everyone to recognize that we can’t leave everything to government,” Albert said.

“If we wish the agriculture sector to grow in importance, then we all have to do our share in helping farmers, in reducing transportation costs, and reducing the profits of middle-men,” he stressed. –Bong D. Fabe, InterAksyon.com