The Philippines is still primarily an agricultural country despite the plan to make it an industrialized economy by 2000. Most citizens still live in rural areas and support themselves through agriculture. The country's agriculture sector is made up of 4 sub-sectors: farming, fisheries, livestock, and forestry (the latter 2 sectors are very small), which together employ 39.8 percent of the labor force and contribute 20 percent of GDP.
One of the most pressing concerns of the agricultural sector is the rampant conversion of agricultural land into golf courses, residential subdivisions, and industrial parks or resorts. In 1993 the nation was losing irrigated rice lands at a rate of 2,300 hectares per year. Small land-holders find it more profitable to sell their land to developers in exchange for cash, especially since they lack capital for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and wages for hiring workers to plant and harvest the crops. Another concern is farmers' continued reliance on chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides that have destroyed soil productivity over time. In recent years however, farmers have been slowly turning to organic fertilizer, or at least to a combination of chemical and organic inputs.
Environmental damage is another major concern. Coral-reef destruction, pollution of coastal and marine resources, mangrove forest destruction, and siltation (the clogging of bodies of water with silt deposits) are significant problems.
The agriculture sector has not received adequate resources for the funding of critical programs or projects, such as the construction of efficient irrigation systems. According to the World Bank, the share of irrigated crop land in the Philippines averaged only about 19.5 percent in the mid-1990s, compared with 37.5 percent for China, 24.8 percent for Thailand, and 30.8 percent for Vietnam. In the late 1990s, the government attempted to modernize the agriculture sector with the Medium Term Agricultural Development Plan and the Agricultural Fisheries Modernization Act.
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Ang Pilipinas ay mayaman sa mga likas na yaman at karamihan sa ating mga mamamayan ay dito kumukuha ng ikabubuhay sa pamamagitan ng pagsasaka, pangingisda at iba pang gawaing pang-agrikultura. Ngunit ang sektor ng agrikultura sa ating bansa ay maraming problemang kinakaharap tulad na lamang ng pagkasira ng ating kapaligiran at ang mga kalamidad na dulot ng tinatawag na global warming at climate change. Malaki ring problema ang pagiging moderno ng ating bansa sapagkat pinapatayuan nila ng mga gusali ang mga lupang sakahan at kinakalbo ang kagubatan upang tayuan din ng mga establisyemento. Dahil sa mga problemang ito na hindi masulusyunan hanggang ngayon ay hindi umuunlad ang ating agrikultura.
Para sa akin, mas pinagtutuunan ng pansin ng pamahalaan ang industriya kaysa agrikultura sa kadahilanang panay ang pagpapatayo nila ng gusali na siyang nagiging dahilan kaya paunti nang paunti ang mga lupang sakahan. Ngunit mawawalan ng saysay ang pagpapaunlad ng industriya kung patuloy ang pagbagsak ng agrikultura sapagkat dito nanggagaling ang mga hilaw na materyales na ginagamit ng industriya upang gumawa ng mga yaring produkto kaya naman dapat unahin ng gobyerno ang paunlarin ang agrikultura sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng sariling lupa sa mga magsasaka at pangangalaga sa ating karagatan. Sa pamamagitan nito ay uunlad ang ating ekonomiya, magiging maginhawa na ang buhay ng mga magsasaka at mangingisda, magiging mabuti ang kalagayan ng ating kalikasan at bababa ang presyo ng mga bilihin.
Thanks for this article!
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