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The Department of Agriculture designated as the lead agency to boost farmers' income
and reduce poverty incidence in the rural sector through the Medium Term Philippine
Development Plan (MTPDP). With its vision, 
  

   
 
   

With emphasis on agribusiness, the agriculture department will undertake two goals under the
new economic blueprint of the Arroyo Administration.

!
"#$ "Develop at least two million hectares of new land for agribusiness in order to
contribute 2 million jobs targeted in 2010"

!? udle or marginal agricultural lands;

!? 2ffshore and inland bodies of water for aquaculture
!? `ew and existing agricultural areas which will be developed for intercropping with high
value crops and raising of livestock, poultry and fish

!
"%$"Reduce costs of wage goods through productivity enhancement, more efficient
logistics, and improved retailing linkages"

!? Production support to enhance farm and fishery productivity

!? þogistical support to raise distribution efficiency
!? ¢overnance and institutional support to provide a policy and regulatory environment
conducive to efficient production and distribution of agribusiness commodities.

The major task of the MTPDP is to fight poverty by building prosperity for the greatest number
of the Filipino people. To ensure better quality of life, the country must open up economic
opportunities, maintain socio-political stability, and promote good stewardship as well as focus
on strategic measures and activities, aimed to spur economic growth and create jobs.

   

 
  

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uts boundaries are formed by three large bodies of water: on the west and north by the South
China Sea; on the east by the Pacific 2cean; and on the south by the Celebes Sea and coastal
waters of Borneo.

The total land area of the Philippines is 300 thousand square kilometers or 30 million hectares.
ut constitutes two percent of the total land area of the world and ranks 57th among the 146
countries of the world in terms of physical size.

The Philippines, advocates the archipelago doctrine, as such it gains exclusive to all resources
living or non-living in and at the bottom of an area of about 276,000 square nautical miles.

1.? The Philippines is divided into three major island groups:

2.? þuzon, with an area of 141 thousand square kilometers;
3.? Mindanao, with an area of 102 thousand square kilometers; and
4.? Visayas, with an area of 57 thousand square kilometers.

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and disposable lands, 93% or 13 million hectares are classified as agricultural lands.

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The Total area devoted to agricultural crops is 13 million hectares. This is distributed among
food grains, food crops and non-food crops. Food grains occupied 31% (4.01 million hectares),
food crops utilized 52% (8.33 million hectares) while 17% (2.2 million hectares) were used for
non-food crops.

For food grains, the average area utilized by corn was 3.34 million while rice occupied 3.31
million hectares.

2f the total area under food crops, coconut accounted for the biggest average harvest area of
4.25 million hectares. Sugarcane with 673 thousand hectares; undustrial crops with 591
thousand hectares; 148 thousand hectares for fruits; 270 thousand hectares for vegetables and
root crops; 404 thousand hectares for pasture and 133 hectares for cut flower.

According to land capability, 78.31% of the alienable and disposable land are prime agricultural
areas, 6.1 million hectares are highly suitable for cultivation.

1
)2+03+)*'+*)0

Philippine agriculture is characterized by a mixture of small, medium and large farms.

Majority of the farms in the country are all small farms averaging about 2 hectares. These are
simple farms which are owned and managed by single families ranging from subsistence to
commercial production.

Farming is generally undertaken on small farms. Two-thirds of all farms in 1988 were no larger
than three hectares. Eighty-five percent of all farms were no more than five hectares. 2ver a
period of ten years ending in 1996, the proportion of small farms had been expanding. The
Philippine Agrarian Reform Council Secretariat reported that the government had acquired and
distributed about 4.1 million hectares of agricultural lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Under this Program implementing the comprehensive agrarian reform law, a farm household
cannot own a farm larger than five hectares. A typical farming system consists of a major crops,
with rice, corn and coconut as common base crops, and a few heads of livestock and poultry.

Rice, corn, coconut and many crops are principally produced by small farms. Prior to CARP,
there were large plantations in rubber, coffee, oil palm, cacao, banana, pineapple, etc. Contract
growing schemes operate in corn seeds, banana, tomato, cucumber, oil palm, asparagus and
broiler chicken.

!)'*"+*)0+400'2

Philippine agriculture plays a vital role in the economy. This attaches the high priority of
transforming agriculture into a modern, dynamic and competitive sector. A sustained expansion
of the national economy requires sustained growth in the agricultural sector.

Agriculture including forestry and fishery, plays a dominant role in the Philippine economy. The
country's population is predominantly rural (70 percent of the total) and two-thirds of this
population depends on farming for their livelihood. un terms of employment, about one-half of
the labor force is engaged in agricultural activities.

Primarily, Philippine agriculture consisted of rice, corn, coconut, sugar, banana, livestock,
poultry, other crops and fishery production activities.

The sector's contribution to the economy has been substantial 23% of gross domestic product
in 1995. ut registered a growth rate of 3.2%. The growth was mainly due to the expansion of
the poultry, livestock, and palay subsectors.

!
"
The Department of Agriculture aims to increase the farmers' income and to reduce
poverty in the Philippines by harnessing the country's agricultural potential towards economic
growth. Through its Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, it plans to develop over two
million hectares of land to use for agribusiness purposes and to reduce the necessary costs
required to enchance productivity, to make the logistical processes of the agriculture industry
more efficient, and to effectively ditribute the resulting agribusiness commodities.
The deparment also implements a number of Administrative 2rders and Memos regarding the
utilization and the development of the Philippine's agricultural sector.

&50'+0
The primary objectives of the ¢MA Rice Program are to attain the national palay production of
13.33 million mt in Year 2002, improve the average yield in irrigated areas to 3.61 mt/ha,
reduce the cost of production and increase farmer's income. Specifically, it seeks to achieve the
following:

!? Promote the use of productivity-enhancing and cost-reducing technologies;

!? Ensure the timely delivery of production inputs, particularly seeds, water, and fertilizers;
!? Develop innovative e credit schemes;
!? Provide efficient marketing assistance to ensure farmers' income; and
!? Strengthen linkages among the key actors of the rice production system toward
sustainability.

1*'+

The Department of Agriculture is the principal agency of the Philippine government

responsible for the promotion of agricultural development growth. un pursuit of this, it provides
the policy framework, helps direct public investments, and in partnership with local government
units (þ¢Us) provides the support services necessary to make agriculture and agri-based
enterprises profitable and to help spread the benefits of development to the poor, particularly
those in rural areas.




c*+0

ut is a declared policy of the State to promote agriculture development,

conserve environmental resources and promote social equity and product access to foreign and
domestic markets of agriculture and fishery commodities;
The development of 2rganic Agriculture nationwide as a farming scheme
enhances global competitiveness, environmental integrity, food security and safety, and
increases productivity and alleviate poverty;
The State recognizes the potential of 2rganic Agriculture in increasing valueadded in
agricultural export and local consumption products;
The stakeholders have recognized the potential of certified organic farming
as a way to lower input costs, utilization of local raw material inputs, conserve non-renewable
resources, mainstream into high-value markets and improve farm income;
The stakeholders of 2rganic Agriculture have manifested their strong interest
to aggressively promote organic agriculture with support from the government on the research,
development and extension activities

2

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