DISCERNING DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS OF DAVAO REGION: A

CASE STUDY

A Qualitative Research study as a requirement in Research I

Davao City National High School

F. Torres St., Davao City

Proponents:

Alejandrino, Meriam S.

Villaflores, Kenneth L.

Mrs. Leonor D. Rasonabe

Research Adviser

December 2017
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The course provided for the agricultural sector in the world is slowly failing in the start of

the 21st century. Actions must be done to mitigate the failure in the global food systems

especially in the act of sustaining the crop production in the world or the Green Revolution.

Some institutes and researchers raise these problems in the modern agriculture, facts and

evidences are coming out that the global food systems are failing to deliver of adequate amount

of healthy, nutritious and balanced food in the world (Mason and Garcia, 1993; McGuire, 1993).

By 2050, the expected population in the world will grow to nearly 10 billion. With this,

accelerating the demand in the production of crops in the agricultural sector are also anticipated

as the rate increases by 50% compared to the latest survey in 2013. Growth and much higher

consumption of vegetable, fruits, and meat are also expected to increase rapidly by this time

(FAO,2017).

INTERNATIONAL

Importation of goods is one of the factors that are very known to clearly show that there

are shortage of crops in a certain area. In the United States of America, fruit and vegetable

exports totaled $6.3 billion in 2015, U.S. imports of fruits and vegetables were $17.6 billion,

resulting in a gap between imports and exports of $11.4 billion. The data shows that the

exportation of goods was already outpaced by the importation of goods (Johnson, 2016).
 Philippines, classified as an agricultural country, exported $56.3 billion of goods all over

the globe in 2016. Since 2009, the total exported goods of the country raised by 46.5% even the

Great recession kicked in by -4% from 2015-2016. Furthermore, the Philippines’ total GDP

raised up to $801.9 billion in the same year and exports accounted for about 7% of the overall

economic output of Filipinos (WTEx,2017). In addition, two-thirds of the jobs in the country

comes from the agricultural sector (Tolentino, et al., 2001). But despite the high capacity of the

Philippines to export there is also data that shows high importation of goods in the Philippines.

Growth in rice production, however, slowed down from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, which

returned the country into its marginal rice importer slot (Bordey and Castañeda, 2011). Since the

early 1990s until the late 2000s, an increasing ratio of rice imports to total consumption has been

observed, implying the rising relevance of rice imports to the nation’s food security (Bordey,

2010).

Davao region, ranked as the number one producer of banana, contributing 906.29

thousand metric tons and shared 40.9% in the overall production of banana in the country. The

region was also known as one of the major producer of the best cocoa in the world in making

chocolates (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2016). With the abundance of the country of these

crops, it is undeniable that there are still struggles that farmers are facing today and worst, the

production rate of their crops starts to decline at the postharvest season due to some diseases and

virus that harms their plants.

With the issue raised, the researchers, are impelled to identify these problems and as

much as possible provide specific actions or alternatives to mitigate these problems in the

agricultural sector.
 The study focuses on the different problems that affect the production rate of agricultural

outputs in Davao Region. This study would be very beneficial to local farmers to identify the

root cause of the declining rate of the production of their products.

Statement of the Problem

This qualitative research is directed to answer the following problems:

1. What are the problems that the agricultural outputs of the Davao Region is facing?

2. What are the problems that affect the production rate of Davao Region?

3. What are the ways to mitigate the spread of the problem in the production rate of Davao

Region and how efficient are these ways?

Significance of the Study

The study will be going to identify different agricultural struggles or problems that the

Davao Region is facing and determine ways that could mitigate the spread of the problems. The

study will be conducted for the following benefits:

1. Agriculture

The results of the study may help the farmers identify the top 3 main cause

of the declining rate of the production of their products and ways on

dealing with the said problem.

2. Economy

The study could help improve the production rate of the agricultural

output of the Davao Region thus enabling local farmers earn bigger profits

or income.

3. Society
 The study may enable to spread awareness to the farmers on how to deal

with their problem in the declining agricultural production.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This study will be conducted inside the premises of Davao Region. The study will focus

only on the agricultural problems that Davao Region is facing. The researchers will be

interviewing an agriculturist and also 3 - 5 farmers. An interview concerning the agricultural

problems of Davao Region will be conducted. The researchers plan to only get the top 3

agricultural problem of Davao Region base from the interviewee.