NCC, DA to discuss measures to raise RP agri labor output

The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) will seek meeting with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to discuss ways to raise the country’s agricultural labor productivity, including further promoting the agro-processing industry.

This was bared by NCC director Virgilio Fulgencio to PHILEXPORT News and Features following the release of Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) data placing Philippine overall productivity ranking in 2006 at 52nd, lagging way behind Asian neighbors Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

The country’s labor productivity ranking, however, was high at 7th, outpacing Hong Kong at 10th; Taiwan, 13th; Thailand, 16th; Malaysia, 20th; China Mainland, 23rd; Korea, 34th; Singapore, 50th; and Japan, 54th. On the other hand, India ranked 2nd and Indonesia, 6th.

Citing the IMD data, Fulgencio said the low labor output growth of the agricultural sector mainly pulled down the country’s overall productivity ranking.

“We thus need to explore ways to improve our (overall productivity) ranking despite being already in the top 10 (in terms of labor productivity),” he noted.

Fulgencio said the Philippines has great potential of raising its labor efficiency and its overall productivity ranking by putting more efforts to improve agricultural output while spurring growths of manufacturing and services sectors.

To this end, the NCC will discuss with the Department of Agriculture possible measures to increase agricultural output, particularly further promoting agro-processing activities in the country, he noted.

Such activities refer to the processing of raw agricultural and fishery products into semi-processed or processed products. This would improve value-added of these products, thus increase income of rural workers.

Fulgencio said Dole Philippines Inc. has already succeeded in this business venture.

He said farmers have been also using the multi-cropping system to augment their income. The system involves growing of more than one crop together in one field or sequentially.  — PHILEXPORT News and Features