Press Release
October 23, 2009

ANGARA: AGRI TRADE IMBALANCE THREATENS FOOD SECURITY, WORSENS POVERTY IN RP

Senator Edgardo J. Angara blamed the long-standing imbalances between rich and poor countries in international agricultural trade - an imbalance that stems from developed countries' protectionism - for the growing food crisis and rural poverty.

With the pending ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) which will eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers for trade among ASEAN nations, Angara said the agriculture sector is under threat - and with it, the country's food security and poverty alleviation efforts.

"Our wealthy neighbors Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all protect their farmers by giving direct subsidies. We cannot afford to do the same, which leaves our farmers unable to compete. How will a poor rice grower from Nueva Ecija compete with a rice farmer in China?" said Angara.

Angara said that in addition to giving their farmers huge subsidies, developed countries forced developing countries to open their markets to rich countries' goods while they kept their markets closed to our agricultural products through various mechanisms such as tariff and non-tariff barriers. This perpetuates the unfair playing field in agricultural trade.

Agriculture is the largest single industry in the country and majority of livelihood source for rural Filipinos. Filipinos are highly dependent on agro-marine products for consumption and enterprise, especially in the countryside.

"Agriculture and rural development is the best and most cost-effective weapon against poverty. Every dollar worth of improvement in a country's gross domestic product that is agriculture-driven is four times more effective in reducing poverty than is GDP growth originating in other sectors," he said.

Angara said, however, that this was belatedly realized by multilateral institutions who have neglected agriculture for decades.

"Not too long ago these same multilateral institutions were figuratively twisting the arms of developing countries, including the Philippines, to open their markets to the agricultural exports of the rich countries where farm and export subsidies are the rule," said Angara.

Angara also blamed underinvestment in agriculture for low domestic food production which makes the impact of shortages and high prices in the world market even more felt by the Philippines.

"In one sentence, what went wrong is we did not invest enough in agriculture. Despite all the obstacles our farmers face, they have successfully fed us through all these years. Yet we have had a long standing policy bias against them in favor of urban consumers, and we have not given them the appropriate levels of investment and policy support," he said.

Former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Angara authored the Agricultural Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) in 1997, which legislated an annual budget of P17 billion for agricultural modernization, on top of the regular Department of Agriculture budget. Over the last ten years, however, an average of only P13.3 billion per year has been released by government.

"It will be an illusion to think that the poor will simply be absorbed by growth taking place outside agriculture. Poverty is highly-rural - the farmers, fisher folk and coconut planters are among the poorest in the country," he said.

Agriculture accounts for about a fifth of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and about a third of total employment, or even 2/3 of total employment including other agriculture-based industries.

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