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Ifpri: 5% yearly farm output can stop RP rural poverty


For the Philippines to eradicate rural poverty and hunger, the country needs to grow farm ourput by at least 5 percent a year from now until 2015, the International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri) said Thursday. Ifpri Executive Director Shenggen Fan said focusing on smallholder activity and encouraging more private-sector investments and participation in farm production could help achieve the farm sector to grow. Growth in the Philippine farm sector averages between 2 percent and 3 percent. The Philippines is confronted by problems like the "lack of investment in agriculture and lack of investment in agricultural research, rural infrastructure, and extension work," said Fan. The Philippines should target "nutrition security" and not just food security, he according to the Ifpri official. "Rice self sufficiency is only one goal, but it is not the right goal. I think the right goal should be to ensure that the poor would have nutritious food to eat," he said. —With Jesse Edep/VS GMANews.TV