Philippines to reform farm sector

13 July 1999

Philippines to reform farm sector

THE Philippines plans to undertake wide-ranging reform of its agriculture sector, reports the Financial Times.

The Pacific country hopes to become a net exporter of rice and, in the process of improving its infrastructure and technology, boost farm incomes by a factor of two.

The Philippines has imported on average 600,000 tonnes of rice annually. It aims to be self-sufficient by the fifth year of the programme.

Included in the reforms are changes to the land tenure structure. Efforts at land reform have previously tended to produce smaller landholdings.

The government has tried to create corporations in which farmers made over their land holding to larger plantations in return for shares, dividends and guaranteed work.

• Financial Times 13/07/99 page 38