Blueprint for farm sector crucial to reducing poverty

A COMPREHENSIVE road map that will ensure the increase in the income of all Filipino farmers is the “sure-fire” way of reducing rural poverty, the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agribusiness (UA&P-CFA) said in a paper.

Titled “Solving Rural Poverty,” UA&P-CFA executive director Rolando Dy said reducing rural poverty by developing the farm sector will have the “greatest impact” and could be President Aquino’s best legacy.

“Agriculture is the main source of livelihood and income among the poor. Developing agriculture by increasing incomes from land and nonfarm jobs will have a tremendous impact on poverty. This is not rocket science; it is a lot of common sense,” the paper read.

To fully realize the huge potential of the country’s farm sector, Dy pushed for the drafting of a comprehensive road map that features “three pillars.”

“This country urgently needs an agriculture portfolio strategy,” he said.

One of the pillars, he said, should focus on increasing productivity. Dy noted that many of the crops planted by Filipino farmers have low yield, particularly coconut, corn, coffee, and root crops like cassava.  

“The yield in oil terms of coconut farms is less than 15 percent of the average oil-palm farms in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Coffee yield is only 25 percent that of Vietnam,” he said.

The head of the UA&P-CFA also pointed out that contrary to popular belief, rice yield in the Philippines is not low. Average rice yield in the country, he said, is 80 percent that of Vietnam’s and Indonesia’s and higher than Thailand’s.

“The problem is the limited rice lands because of natural water scarcity. The Philippines does not possess large rivers like the Mekong that drains Cambodia and Vietnam, the Chao Phraya in Thailand and the Salween-Irrawaddy in Myanmar,” said Dy.

The UA&P-CFA chief said a lot of work needs to be done to improve the productivity of other crops. “Continuing focus on rice, albeit with political mileage, will mean suboptimal results.”

The second pillar, said Dy, is market-led crop diversification. He noted that over the last 25 years, the Philippines has only cavendish bananas and pineapples as significant new exports.

“Vietnam has a much longer list: rice, coffee, dory fish, cashew, pepper, shrimps, etc. Thailand, of course, has sustained its export advantage in rice, natural rubber, canned tuna, cassava, pineapple and canned fruits,” the paper read.
Figures from UA&P-CFA show that Philippine agri-food exports are at $3 billion to $4 billion, only a little over a third of Vietnam’s, and about an eighth of other Asean countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Dy said the third pillar would involve the creation of nonfarm and off-farm jobs through investments in processing using the private sector, as well as public-private partnerships and social entrepreneurship.

Citing World Bank data, he noted that about half of the rural population in the Philippines is poor, up from about 42 percent in 2006. Altogether, the total poor (rural and urban) is about 30 million among 90 million Filipinos, nearly 35 percent as shown by official sources, said Dy.

“The President’s great legacy will be an inclusive agriculture and rural development strategy.  Inclusive means to include other farmers whose produce have good market and income potential.  He will be measured on how many millions of rural folks will be lifted out of rural poverty at the end of his term in 2016.”   –Jennifer A. Ng / Reporter, Businessmirror