Focus on agriculture, bets in 2016 polls told

With the country failing to hit its economic growth target in the first quarter of 2015, a group of farmers and agricultural traders has challenged candidates for President in next year’s elections to “inspire, invest and involve” the agricultural sector.

The group Vieva (Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Vendors Association of the Philippines), in a statement, said lost in the government’s economic gains is the need to “prioritize the agriculture sector.”

Lilia Cruz, Vieva president, said “despite employing close to a third of the Filipino workforce, agriculture contributes to only 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).”

“While we can understand the excitement over the prospects of BPOs (business process outsourcing) and shipbuilding industries and the like, the next President must realize that equal attention must be given to agriculture given the size and potential of the sector,” said Cruz.

According to data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), 11 million out of the country’s 37.4 million workforce are employed in the agricultural sector. Agricultural activities also dominate the country’s land area, with 9.67 million hectares, or 32.24 percent, devoted to agriculture, said Cruz.

She said despite the increased productivity of the agricultural sector, which saw a 1.78 percent growth in the first quarter of 2015 from the same period last year, farmers and fishermen “have not been able to reap the benefits of their labor.”

“Over 11.8 million Filipino farmers work under the summer heat to ensure the country’s food security, but according to statistics an average farmer earns only 200 pesos a day, which may not be entirely accurate as we know for a fact that many farmers subsist on as little as 25 pesos on a good day,” said Cruz.

Cruz added that the minimum wage for agricultural workers condemned the sector to a “life of poverty and want.”

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as of the first semester of 2014, a family of five needed at least P8,778 on the average every month to meet both basic food and non-food needs.

PSA data show the fishermen and farmers, the two poorest groups in the country, suffering from poverty levels of 46 percent and 32 percent.