ADB exec urges govt to increase investment in agri

A senior executive of the Asian Development Bank on Thursday urged the Philippine government to invest more in the agriculture sector to lift a greater number of its population out of poverty. At a press briefing on the Policy Forum on Agricultural and Rural Development for Reducing Poverty and Hunger in Asia, ADB vice president C. Lawrence Greenwood said greater investments in the agriculture sector and rural areas in the Philippines is key to lowering poverty incidence in the country. “One key to the economic success of the People’s Republic of China and other high-growth east Asian economies was policy reform that stimulated high growth rates in agriculture, including allowing farmers to sell their surplus in an open market, liberalizing markets, and promoting rapid technological change. In virtually all cases, agricultural growth was the precursor to the acceleration of nonagricultural growth, very much in the way agricultural revolutions predated the industrial revolutions that spread across Europe and beyond in the late 18th and 19th centuries," Greenwood said. In June the Philippine government reported that its jobless rate went down to 7.4 percent at the end of April from 8.2 percent a year ago. The National Statistics Office said the improvement among the numbers of employed in the country was due to the "moderate expansion of agriculture and the continued brisk performance of services." In the first quarter, the Philippine economy expanded by 6.9 percent, its fastest in 17 years, as the agriculture sector, which accounts for 19.7 percent of the total GDP, also posted growth of 4.2 percent. The government said the “unexpectedly high GDP growth" was backed by, among others, "strong performance of agriculture, fishery and forestry." Greenwood noted that for farmers to move up to the “value chain", the government must look for ways for them to be hooked up to the urban markets. “Going beyond that, there should be value-adding programs," he said. For next year, Malacanang proposed that the agriculture sector’s budget be increased from P18.9 billion this year to P21.7 billion in 2008. However, the agriculture sector remains outside the priority of the government, as the budget allocation proposed for it was the smallest among other four executive departments such as departments of Education, Public Works and Highways, National Defense and Interior and Local Government, the ADB said. In line with this, Greenwood disclosed that the ADB plans to increase its assistance in the agriculture and natural resources sector across the region in the coming years. ADB’s annual lending in the sector topped $800 million in 2006 after a low in 2002 and 2003 with less than $200 million. “This (the increase in assistance to the agriculture sector) is demand-driven. Member countries have recognized that more investments in the agriculture sector is the way to lift their population from extreme poverty," he said. - GMANews.TV