Research group IBON said that the crisis in Philippine\nagriculture due to government negligence contradicts claimed economic\nachievements under the Duterte Legacy Campaign. The group said that the\nadministration\u2019s neglect and prioritization of local and foreign big business\ninterests is worsening an already weak and struggling sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said signs of this agriculture crisis include slowing\nsectoral growth; shrinking share in gross domestic product; rising import\ndependence; increasing trade deficit; significant job losses; and widespread\nrural poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a minimal\n0.4% growth in agriculture in the fourth quarter of 2019. Under the\nadministration, year-on-year growth trend in agriculture has been declining.\nFrom a contraction of 1.2% in 2016, agriculture bounced back with a 4% growth in\n2017. But this was short-lived when growth fell to 0.9% in 2018 with a slight\nincrease to 1.5% in 2019, noted the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said that agriculture\u2019s share in gross domestic product\n(GDP) has been declining from 8.8% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2017, 8.1% in 2018, and 7.8%\nin 2019. This is a far cry from its over 40% share in the economy in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the country has been increasingly dependent on food\nand agricultural imports in the past couple of decades, this has further\nheightened under the Duterte administration, the group said. For instance, the\ncountry\u2019s consumption of garlic imports was only 1.1% in 1990, but this surged\nto 91% in 2018. Rice import dependency\nratio (IDR) meanwhile decreased from 9% in 1990 to 5% in 2016. But this grew to\n13.8% in 2018 and could worsen with the increase in rice imports due to the\nRice Liberalization Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON noted that as much as 1.4 million jobs were lost in\nagriculture, with employment falling from 11.1 million in 2016 to 9.7 million\nin 2019. This translates to an average annual job loss of 455,000 in this\nperiod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another indicator of agriculture in crisis is widespread rural\npoverty, said IBON. Poverty incidence among farmers (34.3%) and fisherfolk\n(34%) is higher than the national average (21.6%), according to latest\navailable figures. However, IBON estimates that at least 90% of farmers and\nfisherfolk are impoverished, if based on more reasonable standards of poverty\nmeasurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said that despite its worsening state, the agriculture\nsector remains low priority for the administration. The 3.5% share of\nagriculture in the 2020 budget is the lowest since 2004 at 3.3 percent. The\ngroup also noted that annual average share of agriculture in the national\nbudget from 2017 to 2020 was just 3.6% – the lowest since the Ramos\nadministration (3.5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said that agriculture, hand in hand with domestic\nmanufacturing, is an important productive sector that, if supported and\nstrengthened towards public interest, could help boost and sustain genuine\ndevelopment and job creation. The administration\u2019s continued neglect of the\nsector and advancement of harmful pro-big business policies that are destroying\nlocal production and farmers\u2019 livelihoods only shows how fake the Duterte\nLegacy really is, the group said. ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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