World Bank: Transforming Philippines’ agriculture key to speed up recover amid COVID-19

Multilateral lender World Bank on Wednesday said the transformation of the country’s agriculture sector will be essential to speed up recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well reduce poverty and promote inclusive growth.

Citing the report “Transforming Philippine Agriculture During COVID-19 and Beyond,” World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines Ndiame Diop said transforming the country’s farming and food systems is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure strong food value chains, affordable and nutritious food, and a vibrant rural economy.

“Modernizing the country’s agricultural sector is a very important agenda for the Philippines,” Diop said.

“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 their agri-food systems,” the World Bank official said.

Diop emphasized that transforming agriculture and food systems is always challenging, “but the country’s new vision for agriculture, it’s current thrust for diversification and use of modern technologies, and its effective management of food supply during this pandemic clearly indicate that the country is well-equipped to overcome the challenge.”

For his part, Agriculture Secretary William Dar recognized that the surest way to speed economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is the transformation of Philippine agriculture into a dynamic, high-growth sector.

“Our vision is a food-secure and resilient Philippines with prosperous farmers and fisherfolk,” Dar said.

“Realizing this vision will require dedicated efforts among major agri-fishery industry stakeholders, led by the Department of Agriculture, to continuously empower farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural entrepreneurs, and the private sector to increase agricultural productivity and profitability, taking into account sustainability and resilience,” the Agriculture chief added.

The Word Bank report suggested that the Philippines should shift away from a focus on specific crops on move to diversification to improve the overall resilience, inclusiveness, competitiveness, and sustainability of the agriculture sector.

“Shifting to a more demand driven sector, with adjusted modalities of government support, strengthened evidence-based decision-making, and larger focus on public goods would lead to a more diversified sector with strong food value chains, affordable and nutritious food, and a vibrant rural economy,” World Bank senior agriculture economist Eli Weiss said.

In the past, spending has gone mostly toward price supports for selected crops and goods, as well as subsidies on inputs such as fertilizer, planting materials, and machines.

Small farmers

The World Bank report said 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 that they need for processing on a timely basis.

It said 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 (including cooperative farming schemes for instance), better extension services, e-commerce, and investments in agribusiness start-ups can further advance modernization of Philippine agriculture.

The World Bank said its support to the Philippines includes long-running programs aiming to raise agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in rural communities. 

“A current example of this is the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) which aims to help increase rural incomes and enhance farm and fishery productivity,” it said.

“Several projects are in the pipeline to help raise agricultural productivity, resiliency and access to markets of farmers and fisherfolk in selected ancestral domains in Mindanao and improve management of coastal fishery resources in selected coastal communities,” it added. — RSJ, GMA News