This Updated Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 provides a strategic policy framework for facilitating the process of structural transformation that will make the agriculture and fisheries (A&F) sector sustainable and competitive and enable it to help rapidly bring the economy to a higher growth trajectory (pag. 74). By the end of 2016, agricultural and fisheries (A&F) sector will have achieved higher incomes and improvement of food security, especially for the farm households, through further increases in (A&F) production with more prudent use of resources; greater linkage with the manufacturing and industrial sector with increased production of raw material inputs; and enhanced sector resilience to climate change risks. These are reflected in Figure 4.1 (pag. 74). Structural transformation involved significant shifts of labor from low-productivity areas in agriculture to high-productivity areas in industry, particularly manufacturing, and services. Without rapid agricultural growth, food prices and wages would have had to rise. But with rapid agricultural growth, fewer people needed to work in the farms to produce for everybody else. This released workers from agriculture and enabled them to find remunerative and high-quality employment opportunities in industry (pag. 75). Contribution to food security and poverty reduction. The relatively high production growth rates in the crop subsector during the period should have led to improvements in terms of the country’s food security agenda (pag. 82). The (A&F) sector plays an important role in the country’s development and improvement of living conditions of Filipinos. Given the country’s natural endowments, many Filipinos rely on A&F both to provide food for their families and to earn income so they can improve their quality of life. The sector also produces not only food but also raw materials vital to fuel the growth of other economic sectors. The Updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP) pays closer attention to A&F sector and its links with industry and services (I&S) so as to fulfill its potential to reduce poverty and generate quality employment for more Filipinos (pag. 74). The economy is targeted to track a higher growth. Employment rate is expected to increase and incidence of income poverty to be reduced. The updated Plan also includes as desired outcome the reduction of multidimensional poverty incidence by 2016. Women’s enhanced roles in environment and natural resource management will be highlighted through policies, capacity building and gender mainstreaming mechanisms (pag. 231). Social protection from catastrophic situations will be designed to prevent the poor from falling deeper into poverty. Chapter 6 provides a menu of social protection programs that will be developed to address different types of hazards (pag. 19). Strategy 1: Mainstream Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) in development plans and guidelines. This strategy involves: supporting initiatives for mainstreaming CCA/M and DRRM in the development process; integrating CCA/M and DRRM in all education levels and in specialized technical training and research programs; formulating criteria for identifying CCA/M and DRRM responsive projects; and adopting a responsive national and local legal and policy framework on CCA/M and DRRM through multi-stakeholder dialogues. Strategy 2: Promote climate/disaster-resilient infrastructure facilities With the aim of institutionalizing CCA/M and DRRM in infrastructure development, existing engineering standards and designs will be reviewed and updated to integrate emerging technologies and retrofitting techniques. This ensures resilience to disasters and impacts of climate change (pag. 218).
Philippines · 2011-01-01