Country Profile: The Philippines

The Philippines, one of the largest island-groups in the world, with over 7,000 islands, is blessed with a wealth of natural resources. The island archipelago is of volcanic origin, forming part of the "Pacific Ring of Fire". The islands are therefore mainly mountainous creating narrow coastal plains and forested interior valleys and fertile plains. Several volcanoes remain active, including the highest peak, Mount Apo (2,954m) and the region is prone to earthquakes.

The country, as a whole, has a tropical marine climate with high annual temperatures, rarely falling below a mean of 27°C at sea level. The seasonal rainfall across the islands is varied but much of the year is wet as a result of frequent typhoons. Monsoons occur twice a year: north-east (Dec-Feb) and south-west (May-Oct).

Vegetation and Land Resources

The island regions of Luzon and Mindanao constitute over 66% of the land areas although the majority of islands (~6,000) are included in the third, Visayan region of the Philippines. Dense mangrove swamps line many coasts but the plains are fertile and support crops such as hemp, coconuts and tobacco. Prime agricultural land is located around the main urban and high population density areas. Almost a third of the land is forested but, like many regions, the islands are increasingly suffering from the effects of rapid deforestation and over-exploitation.

Agriculture

In the late 1980s, nearly 8 million hectares (>25% of total land area) was under cultivation. The total area has since increased to 13 million ha. Due to the diverse climate, different crops are often concentrated in different areas. Typhoons can cause serious yield losses in field crops but productivity tends to be more limited by lack of access of farmers to credit and secure land tenure than by agronomy or climatic factors.

Growth in agricultural output over recent decades has come largely from multicropping and increasing yields. Rice production, for example, has risen on average by 2.4% (1993-7) with a total of 12.9 million tonnes harvested in 1999. However, despite being the second-largest producer of rice in the world, supply of palay (unhusked rice) is not sufficient to cope with domestic demand, resulting in increasing imports of rice. With the continuing growth in population, decreasing food security is of rising concern.

Coconuts have traditionally been a major export earner for the Philippines but with depressed prices for copra and other coconut products, production has decreased in recent years, particularly as trees have not been replaced. Sugarcane, pineapples and bananas are also important export crops. High quality robusta and excelsa coffee is produced in the region but very little is exported.

A number of indigenous fruit trees, such as star-apple, santol and rose-apple are grown widely in the Philippines. Other important fruit crops include durian, rambutan and mango.

Farm System/Structure

A mixture of small, medium and large farms characterize Philippine agriculture but the majority are family smallholdings averaging about 2 hectares. The Philippines Agrarian Reform Council Secretariat reports that the government had acquired and distributed about 4.1 million hectares of agricultural lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries during recent years. Under this programme a farm household cannot own more than five hectares.

A typical farming system consists of rice, corn and coconut as common base crops, and a few heads of livestock and poultry. Prior to agrarian reform, there were also large plantations in rubber, coffee, oil palm, cacao, banana, pineapple, etc. Contract growing schemes continue to operate for corn seeds, banana, oil palm, vegetables such as tomato, cucumber and asparagus, and broiler chickens.

Agriculture and the Economy

Agriculture, including forestry and fisheries, plays a dominant role in the Philippine economy particularly as 70% of the country's population is rural and two-thirds of these depend on farming for their livelihood. Almost 50% of the labour force is engaged in agricultural activities. With the expansion of poultry, livestock and rice, the agricultural contribution to the economy has been substantial, providing 23% of GDP in 1999 and a growth rate of 3.2%. Marine fisheries and aquaculture have also increased significantly during the last decade with a growth of 2.8% in 1999 contributing almost 20% of total agricultural production.

The agricultural sector recovered from the recent slump although the country was not as badly affected as others by the regional economic crisis in 1998. However, sustained expansion of the national economy will require further growth in the agricultural sector.

Article submitted by Gemma Marie Venkataramani, Freelance journalist
Additional information provided by:
Philippine Resource Centre, London, UK

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