Agriculture

Directly employing more than one-quarter of all workers in non-service industries, agriculture provided a livelihood for more than 11m Filipinos in 2013. The sector continues to play a pivotal role in the economy, even as the government looks to develop other industries to lead the way in the future. Recent public and private efforts to boost output and efficiency have led to promising improvements across several segments, including a drive for self-sufficiency in the staple crops of rice and corn and expansion of the sugar industry, while continued investment has produced growth in export-oriented cash crops. Determining the most effective means of countering the effects of inclement and often devastating weather will be a key concern going forward.

This chapter contains interviews with Francis N Pangilinan, Secretary, Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernisation; and John P Perrine, Chairman, Unifrutti Group Philippines.