MANILA, Philippines — The transformation of the local agriculture industry, anchored on the shift away from specific crops and toward a more demand-driven sector, is necessary to fast-track the economic recovery of the Philippines amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.
During the virtual launch of its latest report yesterday, the World Bank said transforming agriculture into a dynamic, high-growth sector is essential for the country to speed up recovery, reduce poverty and grow inclusively.
World Bank country director Ndiamé Diop said the Philippines is well-equipped to overcome the challenges brought about by the pandemic.
“It is fundamental to shift away from heavily focusing on specific crops toward improving the overall competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the sector to ensure a vibrant rural economy,” Diop said.
According to the World Bank report, transforming the country’s farming and food systems is even more important during the pandemic to ensure strong food value chains and affordable and nutritious food for Filipinos.
Diop noted that with the exception of a few small natural resource-rich countries, no country has successfully transitioned from middle- to high-income status without having achieved an effective transformation of its agri-food systems.
For his part, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the sector has been in a critical stage, as shown by its erratic growth in previous decades due to low farm productivity, lack of value-adding, as well as very few alternative sources of income.
Dar said the magnitude of response must match the scale of the challenges and must be comprehensive, science-based, inclusive and innovative to build an efficient and resilient food production and distribution systems.
World Bank senior agriculture economist and lead author Eli Weiss said transforming the sector would mean growing higher than the rate of the country’s population.
“It should not just be in farming but in the entire value chain, including post harvest and agri processing. It should have a larger part in the GDP (gross domestic product),” he said.
The report suggested shifting away from a heavy focus on specific crops towards improving the overall resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability of the rural sector.
According to the World Bank, global experience shows that while ensuring the availability of key inputs remain important, reorienting significant public spending toward investments in public goods results in faster poverty reduction and greater productivity gains through an overall modernization of agriculture.
It added that small farmers have difficulty accessing inputs and markets for their produce, while buyers such as agribusiness enterprises and wholesalers find it difficult to get the quantity and quality of produce they need for processing on a timely basis.
“Government support can help overcome this market failure by bringing together buyers and producer organizations and providing support for the preparation and implementation of profitable business plans that benefit both parties,” the report said.
Interventions like farm consolidation, better extension services, e-commerce, and investments in agribusiness start-ups can also advance modernization of Philippine agriculture.
The World Bank’s support to the Philippines includes programs aiming to raise agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in rural communities.
Source: philstar.com