PhilippineAgriculture

Agriculture::
Philippine
Status,
Challenges
&
Status, Trends &
Emerging Trends
Challenges
Dr.
Dr. Danilo
Danilo C.
C. Cardenas
Cardenas
Deputy Executive Director for R & D
DOST - PCARRD

STATE OF PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

z Majority of Philippine farms remains
basically engaged in smallhold agriculture.
z From 1990-2004, agricultures share to GDP
dropped from 21% to less than 15%.
z In 2004, 37% of total population still
engaged in agriculture.
z From 1992-2003, our annual growth rate in
agriculture (value added) is posted at 2.5%

STATE OF PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

z Philippine exports in tropical fruits like
banana, pineapple, mango and papaya are
international benchmarks in global trade;
The sector is also highly competitive in the
exports of fishery products, banana chips,
coconut oil, sugar and abaca as well as in
hogs and poultry products.
z Production performance in other
commodities however are mixed and erratic
such that we remained as a net food
importing country.

EMERGING TRENDS IN
PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

z Markets, not production, increasingly

drives agricultural development - Value

addition & product differentiation rather than

producing more has become increasingly
important to improving incomes, reducing
malnutrition/poverty, & for competing in the
global market; Managing rather than
exploiting resources is a key to sustainable
gains.

EMERGING TRENDS IN
PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

z Former R&D clients are now

becoming important partners -

Technology users are becoming more

central in innovation and technical
change. In the past, farmers, the private
sector and LGUs were considered as
merely technology users but now, they
are fast becoming major active partners in
agricultural development.

EMERGING TRENDS IN
PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

Public RDIs are no longer the only

source of information - Combining
collective wisdom and knowledge of
potential partners, with hands-on
experience is becoming a new way of
generating innovations. What seems to be
emerging is a public-private co-innovation
partnership in which both parties share
R&D benefits/responsibilities and
contribute to costs.

EMERGING TRENDS IN
PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

z Development potential of the

agricultural sector is rapidly being
defined in the international arena
production, trade & consumption
conditions for agricultural products are
growing more dynamic and evolving in
unpredictable ways.

EMERGING TRENDS IN
PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE

zNew fields of science such as

biotechnology, value chain, indigenous
knowledge systems, and ICT are
greatly influencing how agricultural
RDE is being conducted Innovations
are being generated thru networking,
linkages and partnerships leading to a
marked change in the knowledge structure
of the aggie sector.

CHALLENGES
z The poor state of local infrastructure
has dampened the positive effects of
increased agricultural productivity on
agricultural commodity prices, kept
transport and post-harvest handling
costs inexorbitantly high and
inhibited agricultural growth from
further stimulating the progress of
the non-aggie sector as it did in most
NICs.

CHALLENGES
z With our ever increasing population,
the amount of arable land suited to
agriculture has declined, water
availability becoming scarce, and the
extent of environmental degradation
is on the rise.

CHALLENGES
z Other set of challenges are also
emerging from a constantly shifting
development scenarios such as trade
liberalization, IPR issues, climate
change, heightened interests on
innovations systems/biofuels, rapid
urbanization associated with land use
conversion & changing food habits/
lifestyles and the appearance of many
players in agricultural R&D are
changing the pattern and nature of
agriculture.

CHALLENGES
z Barriers to change needs to be
surmounted - Given this new

developments, existing organizational

structures, roles, behaviors, habits,
practices and policies will have to be
reexamined and adjusted accordingly
to what is needed to facilitate
agricultural innovation.