WB calls for more agriculture investments in poor countries

The World Bank is calling for more investments in agriculture in developing countries, saying the sector must be placed at the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized.

In the latest issue of its World Development Report, the World Bank noted that the Philippines is no exception in terms of the agricultural sector’s high potentials for growth and poverty reduction. However, the bank noted that it may take some adjustments in the overall rural and agricultural development strategy for these potentials to be realized.

The World Development Report, launched last week in Washington D.C., calls for greater and smarter investments in agriculture in developing countries and warns that the sector must be placed at the forefront of the development agenda if the millennium development goals (MDGs) of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized.

The report says agriculture can help millions of rural poor who would otherwise be left behind in transforming economies.

“In the Philippines, we think that the way to increase the benefits of agricultural public investments would be to improve the composition of expenditure, without necessarily increasing its level,” the report stated.

Maryse Gautier, World Bank acting country director for the Philippines, said “the country would be able to seize new opportunities presented by the global markets by shifting expenditures towards supporting dynamic, high-value added products with export potential. This will help increase incomes from agriculture, where more than 40 percent of the Philippine labor force is employed, but which presently contributes only about 14 percent of national output.”

World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick said, “we need to give agriculture more prominence across the board. At the global level, countries must deliver on vital reforms such as cutting distorting subsidies and opening markets, while civil society groups, especially farmer organizations, need more say in setting the agricultural agenda.”

In the Philippines, the World Bank’s lending program for rural development includes the $60 million National Program Support for Diversified Farm Income and Market Development Project (NPS-DFIMDP), the $84-million Second Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP2), the $50-million Second Agrarian Reform Community Development Project (ARCDP), the $150-million Third Rural Finance Project (RF3), the $33.6-million ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP), the $19-million Second Land Administration and Management Project, and the $5-million Laguna de Bay Institutional Strengthening and Community Participation Project (LISCOP), among others.