Agriculture & Fisheries
From The Report: The Philippines 2017
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Contributing around 10% of GDP, the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sector’s importance to the economy remains far larger than its direct impact on the bottom line. The industry is a crucial employer, accounting for for 26.7% of the 43.4m-strong labour force, and is one of the few trades available for many Filipinos living in remote, less-affluent regions. With President Rodrigo Duterte announcing the aim to reduce poverty from 21.6% in 2015 to 14% by 2022 as part of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-22, a logical place to begin would be the agriculture sector, as the rural population collectively lives within a poverty range of 35-40%. The sector also plays directly to another of the president’s talking points about focusing on agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, with much of current industrial activity already devoted to downstream processing of agricultural products.

This chapter contains interviews with Emmanuel F Piñol, Secretary, Department of Agriculture; and Rachel Lomibao, CEO, Monsanto Philippines.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Fertile ground: The sector remains a key economic and social contributor
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Accounting for around 10% of GDP, the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sector’s importance to the national economy remains far larger than its direct impact on the bottom line. The industry is a crucial employer, accounting for 26.7% of the country’s 43.4m-strong labour force, and is one of the few trades available for many Filipinos living in remote, less-affluent regions. With President Rodrigo Duterte announcing the Philippine Development Plan 2017-22 and its aim to reduce poverty…

Interview

Going with the grain: Emmanuel F Piñol, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, on how to boost national rice production
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Interview:Emmanuel F Piñol How can the Philippines’ rice self-sufficiency goals be attained? What interventions would need to be in place to strengthen food security? EMMANUEL F PIÑOL: The average Filipino rice farmer has a yield of 4 tonnes per ha per harvest and a production cost of P12 ($0.25) per kg produced, which are very uncompetitive numbers compared to Vietnam’s 7 tonnes per ha and production cost of P6 ($0.13) per kg. If we analyse the practices of successful Filipino farmers…

Analysis

Bounty of the sea: The regulations governing fishing have been tightened
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An archipelago nation consisting of more than 7000 individual islands and 300,000 sq km of territory, the Philippines has by necessity developed a strong maritime culture over its history. As such, the fisheries sector has evolved from largely a subsistence practice in its early years – supplying inhabitants with a crucial source of protein – to today’s diversified, modern industry, which features a deep-sea fishing fleet, ocean-based mariculture, inland aquaculture industries and near-shore…

Interview

Maximising yields: Rachel Lomibao, CEO, Monsanto Philippines, on the potential of biotechnology in the sector
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Interview:Rachel Lomibao How can the agricultural sector compete in genetically modified (GM) food production? RACHEL LOMIBAO: Out of the 2.52m ha allocated for corn in the Philippines, only about 41% is hybridised. Of this number, only 67% is allocated to a biotech version combining insect and glyphosate tolerant traits. This means there is still opportunity to increase our corn production by further converting the areas currently planted to conventional corn and open-pollinated varieties.…