For the last ten years the Philippines has been crucial to the development of agricultural and rural infrastructure. From the island of Mindoro to other parts of the country, the country now boasts a nautical highway which has significantly eased the transport of agricultural products. Most of the modern highways and road systems have also been built to connect the areas of Clark, Tarlac and Subic in Central Luzon. All of the major trading areas, thereby making it easier for farmers living in the locales to transport their goods to Metro Manila. In the Philippines, the other developments couples with he increasing popularity of agribusiness in the Philippines, it led to the developments of the country’s agricultural industry as well as to a significant increase in agricultural profits.
The country’s Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry sector contributed to about 15% of the Philippines national gross domestic product. The projection from the International Monetary Fund puts the Philippines 2011 GDP growth rate at 5% having already risen by 7.5% in the first nine months of the year 2010. By 7.5% in the first nine months of 2010, the Philippine Agricultural sector is also expected to grow by at least 2.5-3.5% in 2011.
An agricultural specialist from the University of Asia and the Pacific according to Dr. Rolando Dy, harvests, from the final quarter of 2010 are likely to spill over to the first quarter of 2011, while crops like corn, banana and rice are expected to continue as top performers in the next year. The data and statistics from Project JobsFit: The Dole 2020 Vision, a recent labor market study conducted by the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment, predicts that agribusiness will emerge as a key employment generator in the next five years. Director for local labor, criselda Sy says that the agribusiness sector boasts a number of hard to fill in demand posts.
Most of the developments in the Philippine Agribusiness sector have already boosted investor interest in the industry. In the Philippine-based company AgriNurture, a local producer of farm goods, recently undertook Php 1.7 billion worth of agribusiness projects with the Chinese government of Guangxi province and it is currently negotiating the export of vegetable and other commodities to the United States. Thailand-based company Charoen Pokphand Foods has also invested Php 1 billion in a hog production facility in Concepcion, Tarlac.
The prospective growth for the industry is evident; the Philippines agricultural resource include 29.81 million hectares of agricultural land and 5.7 million hectares of arable land, but only about 27.19% of the Philippines total agricultural land have proper irrigation systems. With rice harvests experiencing a 25% shortfall in 2008, lack of development in the areas has led to a significant decrease in crop production.
In the 2010. crop production also contracted by 7.24% with palay and corn production dropping by 14.95% and 15.39% respectively and registered losses in coconut and sugarcane farms. The Philippine agribusiness bounced back in other areas, nevertheless, particularly in livestock and poultry, fisheries and bio-fuel development.
REFERENCE:
http://www.kittelsoncarpo.com/outsourcing-philippines/news-articles/bright-prospects-ahead-for-philippine-agribusiness
