Agriculture to play major role in economic recovery — NEDA

MANILA, Philippines — Improving productivity in the agriculture sector will be crucial to economic recovery, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Karl Chua said the government would be focusing on enhancing the productivity of the agriculture sector.

Among major industries, only the agriculture sector registered growth in the second quarter at 1.6 percent. The industry and service sectors, meanwhile, shrank by 22.9 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.

“There’s no way for the Philippines to complete its structural transformation if we don’t make the agriculture sector productive. We have already taken huge steps through the Rice Tariffication Law and the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). We can also do more through our infrastructure and logistics programs,” said Chua.

The Rice Tariffication Act enacted last year amended the two-decade-old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 and replaced the quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice imports with a 35 percent tariff.

As a means of protection for farmers, the law provides for the establishment of the P10- billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) using tariff revenue, proceeds of which would be used by the Department of Agriculture for productivity-enhancing programs for rice farmers.

Key interventions to be financed by the RCEF include the improvement of farm mechanization, development of high-yielding rice seed varieties and promotion of use, expanded rice credit, crop diversification, and extension services.

Former socioeconomic planning secretary Cielito Habito said early this month the agriculture sector may be expected to continue to defy the downturn for the remainder of the year, growing by 1.5 percent in the third quarter and by 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter to register a full year growth of 1.2 percent.

He said making agriculture a growth engine of the economy would be crucial to recovery, food security and creating a more inclusive economy.

As most of the country’s growth centers for industry and services were severely hurt by lockdowns because of mobility restrictions, farmers in rural areas were mostly able to continue production.

During the second quarter, year-on-year growth was seen in the production of rice, corn, sugarcane, rubber and agriculture services.