Policies needed to boost agri productivity — PIDS

The Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) has underscored the need for evidence-based policies to boost agricultural productivity and help reduce the ranks of the poor. A new PIDS study showed that with tepid output growth over the years, the agricultural sector now accounts for just above a tenth of gross domestic product. About 32 percent of the ranks of the employed work in agriculture, forestry and hunting, and fishing. The study noted that the poor can mostly be found in the rural areas working in these low-skilled, low-productivity, and low-income jobs. PIDS has done extensive work in agricultural policy research, in support of the government’s goal of making growth more inclusive. A recent paper by PIDS Senior Research Fellow Roehlano Briones argues that the agricultural and rural economy should be at the "forefront, rather than periphery, of the country’s strategy for quality employment generation.”