23. Philippines
Support to farmers in the Philippines as a share of gross farm receipts (PSE) averaged 27.1% in 2019-21. This is higher than the OECD average and one of the highest among emerging economies covered in this report.
Market price support (MPS), which reflects existing trade barriers – mainly tariffs and tariff rate quotas (TRQs) – is the dominant form of support to Philippine producers, of which rice producers are the main beneficiaries. High import tariffs also support the prices of sugarcane, maize, pig meat and poultry. As a result, domestic producer prices are 40% higher on average than world market prices. Payments to farmers support variable inputs and investments, mainly for rice producers. MPS and payments for inputs – the most production- and trade-distorting measures – account for almost all support to farmers.
Expenditure on general services (GSSE) more than doubled relative to the agricultural value of production between 2000-02 and 2019-21, largely because of increased investments in irrigation and extension programmes. Expenditures on public stockholding for rice are also an important GSSE expenditure. Despite decreasing from 2.9% in 2000-02, overall support to the Philippine agricultural sector in 2019-21 was 2.7% of GDP, one of the highest among countries reviewed,
To stabilise prices and ensure adequate domestic supply, the TRQ for rice was temporarily liberalised in May 2021 for one year and the Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rate set to 35%, the rate usually reserved for ASEAN member countries. The TRQ for pig meat was provisionally reduced and the volume expanded as the country grappled to contain African Swine Fever.
In 2021, the government of the Philippines maintained measures taken in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the livelihoods of agricultural producers and the food security of consumers, with a priority on rice. The Rice Resiliency Project – included under the Plant, Plant, Plant Programme designed to enhance food security with support for crops, livestock, poultry and fisheries – received an additional PHP 8.5 billion (USD 173 million) in June 2021 to increase rice self-sufficiency from 87% to 93%.
Funding was extended in 2021 for additional loans and loan guarantees to small farmers under the expanded SURE COVID programme to help recover from the impact of low prices and COVID-19-related impacts on their businesses. Government-imposed retail price controls on basic food items sold in public markets, implemented in 2020 to avoid a sharp rise in retail food prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were continued in 2021.
The Philippines needs to accelerate development and implementation of climate change mitigation policies for agriculture to meet its commitment to reduce emissions by 75% between 2020 and 2030 relative to projected business-as-usual emissions (subject to the provision of climate finance and help with implementation), as outlined in its 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution. Current policy settings focus on adapting to climate change rather than mitigating GHG emissions. Given its ambitious but conditional mitigation commitments, the Philippines will benefit from membership in international mechanisms collaborating on mitigation solutions, such as the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and the newly launched Global Methane Pledge.
The Philippines’ agricultural policy focuses on food security and poverty alleviation through a guaranteed supply of staple food (rice) at affordable prices. The goal of self-sufficiency in rice drives a range of policies supporting rice producers. Reducing tariff rates for rice (and pig meat) imports during 2021 to ensure food security was a significant, but temporary, policy shift.
The National Food Authority (NFA) operates emergency buffer rice stocks. However, the NFA uses these to support prices to farmers by buying at administered prices and reducing consumer prices by selling at subsidised prices on retail markets. Hence, these stocks are de facto ‘intervention stocks, with significant implications for markets and the government budget. The budget financing these interventions could be more efficiently spent on direct income support, and to finance general services to improve productivity and climate adaptation and resilience in the sector, while bolstering social measures for the most vulnerable consumers.
Increasing long-term investments in infrastructure and R&D should lift productivity in the agricultural sector. After decades of underinvestment, agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the Philippines is slower than the global average and most countries in the region.
In view of the Philippines’ susceptibility to typhoons, tropical storms and flooding, which are likely to become more frequent and devastating with climate change, the government should take a holistic approach to risk management that adapts policy objectives across programmes and institutions. The effectiveness of current risk management tools should be assessed – in particular, the extent to which insurance and cash-transfer schemes encourage risk-reducing decision-making on farms. Evaluation should be used to improve policy design and delivery. Support for climate-smart agricultural innovation and advisory services should be prioritised. Lastly, working with regions to make information about local conditions, forecasts and adaptive solutions more available should increase farmers’ awareness and capacity to prepare and adjust.
Improving biosecurity and disease control measures is key for containing outbreaks of African Swine Fever and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and will require coordination among local authorities and extending advisory services.
Overview of policy trends
Heavy government interventions in agricultural markets within a closed economy characterised the period from 1970 to 1986. The government had monopoly control over trade in rice, sugar and maize, operated by the National Grains Authority (NGA) established in 1972 (later renamed the National Food Authority [NFA]). Sugar trade was nationalised under the National Sugar Trading Corporation. At the same time, high-yield rice varieties were introduced. Input subsidies encouraged farmers to use high-yield varieties of rice, as well as fertilisers and pesticides. Public spending in the sector increased (particularly on irrigation), financed by a mix of taxes on major agricultural exports and foreign loans. Access to credit was facilitated by legally obliging financial institutions to provide 25% of their loans to the agricultural sector. Budgetary expenditures financed extension services to the farming sector (OECD, 2017[1]).
Partial liberalisation of the sector was implemented gradually from 1986 to 2000. Reforms undertaken in the 1990s aimed to improve services provided to agriculture, particularly extension services, and infrastructure. Market interventions were gradually reduced, as were tariffs and non-tariff measures on agro-food imports. The policy of self-sufficiency in rice continued with the provision of input subsidies to farmers, mainly fertilisers and certified seeds, but also credit facilitation and support to public services for agriculture, such as investments in irrigation and farm-to-market roads. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Philippines negotiated a number of trade agreements (for example, it is a founding member of the ASEAN Free Trade Area). Upon joining the WTO in 1995, the country committed to removing quantitative restrictions on imports of sensitive agricultural products (with the exception of rice) and to gradual liberalisation of agro-food trade. Public expenditure on agriculture declined substantially in the late 1990s, due to tight fiscal policies adopted in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis (OECD, 2017[1]).
Furthermore, since 1988, the Philippines has undertaken an ambitious agrarian reform to redistribute agricultural land to landless farmers and land workers. The reform covered close to three-quarters of the country’s agricultural area. By the end of 2015, the redistribution of land was almost complete, but property rights remain to be settled. Almost half of the reform beneficiaries still have collective ownership certificates instead of individual property rights.
During the 2000s, the government undertook policy measures to further reduce market interventions in agriculture. Subsidised credit programmes were terminated, and private traders allowed to import rice at limited levels. However, the focus on food (rice) self-sufficiency was further reinforced and, after the global food price crisis in 2008, spending on agriculture increased substantially. The government increased public expenditure on irrigation and input subsidies to achieve self-sufficiency. The Food Staples Sufficiency Programme launched in 2011 retained the focus on rice and selected other staples, but shifted emphasis away from input subsidies towards public services to agriculture such as extension and infrastructure (OECD, 2017[1]). Following the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, the system of quantitative restrictions for rice was abolished in March 2019 and replaced by a tariff rate quota system. To offset the effect of the liberalisation of rice imports on producers’ incomes, in 2019 the government established the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) with an annual appropriation of PHP 10 billion (USD 203 million) for six years (until 2025).
Support to farmers as a share of gross farm receipts (percentage PSE) tended to slightly increase and then stabilise over the last 20 years. It is above the OECD average and one of the highest among the emerging economies included in this report. Market price support for rice, sugar, maize, beef, poultry, pig meat and eggs constitutes almost all of support to farms (Figure 23.4). Budgetary support to producers is low, and almost exclusively devoted to payments based on input use.
Main policy instruments
Various measures provide price support to Philippine producers. Price support policies mainly focus on rice and sugar with a combination of trade barriers (tariffs and TRQs) and domestic market regulations for rice. The NFA implements rice price support by buying buffer stocks at administered prices from domestic producers and selling these stocks at subsidised prices to consumers. For sugar, production quotas and trade barriers (tariffs and TRQs) provide producer price support and market regulation.
Tariff protection is the Philippines’ main trade policy tool. Trade liberalisation primarily occurs within regional trade agreements, particularly the ASEAN Free Trade Area. The simple average applied Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff on agricultural products was 9.8% in 2019 (USTA, 2021[2]). Tariff lines applied are ad valorem and range from 0% to 66.9% (USTA, 2021[2]).
Tariff rate quotas are applied to 14 agricultural products, with in-quota tariffs ranging from 30% to 50% and out-of-quota from 35% to 65%. Products covered include live swine, goats and poultry and poultry meat, potatoes, coffee, maize, rice, and sugar. Import licensing is required for all regulated products (including those under TRQs), and is intended to safeguard public health, national security and welfare.
Quantitative restrictions on rice imports were replaced with an import tariff systems in March 2019, under the Rice Tariffication and Liberalisation Law (RA 1120) implemented to comply with the Philippines WTO obligations. In place of a quota on imports from ASEAN countries, a single tariff of 35% for rice applies. For rice imports from non-ASEAN countries, a TRQ applies. Applied MFN in-quota and out-of-quota tariffs for rice are set at 40% and 50%, respectively. Additionally, grains, grain products and sugar require export permits. To offset the effects of rice liberalisation and to incentive self-sufficiency the Philippines Department of Agriculture has implemented several support programmes for rice producers.
Budgetary support to agricultural producers, both through payments provided to farmers individually and to the agricultural sector as a whole (general services), is small compared to the level of price support. Budgetary support to producers focuses on subsidising the use of variable inputs, including seed and fertiliser subsidies. General service payments are mainly for infrastructure and agricultural R&D.
Climate change mitigation policies in agriculture
Greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use) increased 114% during 1990-2017, driven mainly by CO2 emissions from fuel combustion (Climate Transparency, 2020[3]). The agriculture sector is the third-highest emitter of GHGs in the Philippines, after the energy and transport sectors. In April 2021 the Philippines submitted its National Determined Contribution (UNFCCC, 2021[4]) which increased its commitment to reduce GHG emissions between 2020 and 2030 by 75% relative to projected business-as-usual cumulative emissions, of which 2.7% is unconditional1 and 72.3% is conditional.2 For 2021-30, the conditional target GHG emission reduction for agriculture is 29.4% below the business-as-usual scenario of 539.09 MtCO2eq (cumulative emissions) (DA, 2022[5]). At COP26 in November 2021, the Philippines joined the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, with focus on high-emission sources (EC, 2021[6]). The Philippines is also a member of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.
Mitigation efforts focus on the major sources of agricultural GHG emissions accounting for the following proportions of agricultural emissions: paddy rice cultivation (52%), livestock enteric fermentation (20%), soil cultivation (16%), and livestock manure management (10%). For paddy rice cultivation, the Philippines aims for all its 3.21 million hectares of irrigated rice area to adopt technologies and practices including the Alternate Wetting and Drying technology, cropland management (nature-based solutions like microbial inoculants), and renewable energy for water management. To reduce emissions from livestock by 50%, the Philippines aims to use nature-based solutions, e.g. seaweed from Australia, microbial inoculants, diet modification, zeolite, enzymes and breeding interventions. To achieve a 25% reduction in the total N2O emissions for soil cultivation, cropland management techniques such as supplements like biochar and organic fertiliser to increase soil friability are being promoted along with precision agriculture and biotech crops.
Within the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Climate Resilient Agriculture Office oversees programmes focused on climate change adaption and mitigation in agriculture through climate-smart agriculture regulations, investments in infrastructure and extension services, information systems and risk management (DA, 2021[7]). The Climate Resilient Agriculture Office also provides climate and weather-informed advisory services, leads the completion of climate-risk and vulnerability assessments, and disaster-risk reduction financing and risk transfer.
Domestic policy developments in 2021-22
In 2021 the NFA intervened on the domestic market by buying rice for buffer stocks at a price set at PHP 19 (USD 0.38) per kg of rice, and also by selling domestic rice from its buffers at an administered price (generally below the market price) in order to lower consumer prices. Overall, these stocks play more a role of an “intervention stock” rather than an “emergency buffer stock”. In 2021 the DA allocated a total of PHP 41 billion (USD 832 million) to the rice buffer stocking programme for procuring and then distributing palay rice.
Support to rice farmers under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) was allocated across the following categories in 2021: PHP 4.5 billion (USD 91 million) for rice farm machinery and equipment; PHP 2.5 billion (USD 51 million) for rice seed development, propagation and promotion; PHP 1 billion (USD 20 million) for credit to farmers; and PHP 1 billion (USD 20 million) for extension services. This fund, initiated in 2019 and available for six years until 2025, has an annual budget of PHP 10 billion (USD 203 million) (financed from the receipts from rice import tariffs).
In 2021, one and a half million small rice farmers (with landholding of 2 hectares or less) benefited from cash transfers of PHP 5 000 (USD 101) per farm. Funding for this cash assistance came from the excess rice tariff collection (above the PHP 10 billion used for financing the RCEF) in 2019 and 2020, which amounted to PHP 7.6 billion (USD 154 million). From 2020 until the end of June 2021, small producers of corn, coconut and sugar cane received a similar support from the budget in the form of cash and food assistance3 worth PHP 5 000 per farm.
Since 2019, when the Philippines reported its first outbreak of African Swine Fever, the country has been struggling to contain the virus which has resulted in a loss of over 3 million pigs. Small scale pig raisers in ASF-infected areas have received a payment of PHP 5 000 for every culled pig from the DA since the outbreak began. In May 2021, the President declared a year-long state of calamity due to ASF. National zoning measures are in place and the DA is providing financial and technical support to ASF-affected producers under its Integrated National Swine Production Initiative for Recovery and Expansion programme and the public and private Bantay ASF sa Barangay (BaBay ASF) initiative launched in February 2021. This latter initiative targets improvements in biosecurity and disease control measures through co-operation between local authorities, specialist biosecurity officers and farmers.
In 2021, there were 130 Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) villages established to showcase the integration of climate resilient agriculture practices in their farm operations. As part of the DA’s climate resilient agriculture policy, the Climate Resilient Agriculture Office partnered with national and local government units to expand the regional coverage of climate risk and vulnerability assessments to develop an understanding of the current and future climate risks facing the region and the delivery of farm and fishery advisory services based on climate and weather forecasts. To inform and encourage adoption by food chain stakeholders the Climate Resilient Agriculture Office used social media to increase public outreach about its climate change adaptation and mitigation activities.
As part of its commitments at the UN Food Systems Summit, in September 2021 the Philippines submitted plans to develop a National Food Systems Transformation Pathway (The Philippines Government, 2021[8]) which will include prioritised actions to implement strategic food systems objectives, new governance mechanisms to ensure food systems policy coherence across government agencies and at the federal and local levels, as well as new data collecting and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of food systems policy actions.
The Philippines ranked 9th in the world amongst countries most affected by extreme weather events in the 2021 World Risk Index (IFHV, 2021[9]). In mid-December 2021, the category 5 typhoon Rai struck late in the typhoon season which usually runs from July to October. Damage to homes, infrastructure and farmland are estimated to cost USD 410 million. In response to typhoon Rai DA imposed further price freezes for farm products in the affected provinces.
Domestic policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
In June 2021, the Rice Resiliency Project received an additional PHP 8.5 billion (USD 173 million) of funding for its implementation. With its goal to increase the country’s rice self-sufficiency level from 87% to 93%, the “Rice Resiliency Project” is part of the broader Plant, Plant, Plant Programme introduced by the DA in 2020 to enhance food security in response to concerns amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding continued to be provided by the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council to the expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Programme for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid) and Recovery Project (SURE COVID-19) for small farmers and fishermen (SFF) and agriculture and fishery micro and small enterprises (MSE) whose livelihoods, agribusiness operations, and incomes were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Total funding of these loan programmes in 2021 represented PHP 1.2 billion (USD 24 million) with loans to crop production comprising 76% of the total loans and loans to fisherfolk and livestock producers for 10% each. Under this project, additional loans and loan guarantees were extended to SFF and MSEs amounting PHP 808 million (USD 16 million) in 2021.
During 2021 the DA continued to implement major interventions to ensure adequate, accessible, and affordable food to Filipino households, particularly in Metro Manila and other major centres, during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure a stable supply of affordable basic food commodities for Metro Manila, the DA implemented a Food Resiliency Action Plan whereby demand and supply (including the source of supply) for basic food commodities are monitored weekly. A network of government stores (“KADIWA ni A ni at Kita”) sells basic food items supplied by small farmers and fisherfolk to Metro Manila residents at regulated prices. At the end of 2021 there were 187 KADIWA stores nationwide, with 28 of these located in Manila.
In order to avoid a sharp rise in retail food prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during 2020 and 2021 the government imposed suggested retail prices (SRPs) on basic food items including pork, poultry, fish, sugar, onion, garlic, beef and selected vegetables.
Trade policy developments in 2021-22
In May 2021, the MFN tariff rate for rice was reduced for one year to 35%, the same rate as rice from ASEAN member countries compared to the usual in-quota tariff rate of 40% and an out-of-quota rate of 50%. The temporary liberalisation of the rice market is to boost supply and the diversity of rice suppliers during the pandemic and reduce the impact climate change on food security (USDA, 2021[10]). At the same time the Minimum Access Volume (the TRQ) for pig meat was increased temporarily from 54 210 metric tonnes to 254 210 metric tonnes and the in-quota and out-of-quota rates were reduced to address rising pork prices resulting from constrained domestic production as the Philippines culls stock to control outbreaks of African Swine Fever (USDA, 2021[11]).
Reduced tariff rates for mechanically deboned or mechanically separated poultry (from 40% to 5%) and frozen whole turkey (from 40% to 20%) implemented in June 2019, remain in place until 31 December 2022.
In January 2021, the DA issued a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and poultry products from France, Korea and the Netherlands. The ban was imposed in response to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In the case of the Netherlands the ban remained in place until August 2021 and was reinstated in November 2021. The Netherlands usually accounts for 20% of the Philippines’ annual poultry imports and is a major supplier of mechanically deboned chicken meat, a key raw product for meat processors.
In 2021, Philippines renewed efforts to complete its ratification process of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). In September 2021, the President ratified the RCEP and following ratification by the Senate it is expected to enter into force in the Philippines in the first half of 2022. Once the Philippines formally ratifies the RCEP, 75% of the country’s 1 718 agricultural tariffs will be set to zero and 15% of its agricultural tariffs will be reduced with only 9% will remain unchanged. Sensitive agricultural products including rice, maize and sugar will remain excluded from tariff reductions under the RCEP.
Trade policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
One of the goals of temporarily liberalising the rice market in 2021 for one year is to boost and diversify rice supply during the pandemic and stabilise prices for the Philippines, the world’s third largest rice importer after the People’s Republic of China and Bangladesh. From May 2021 the MFN tariff rates for rice were reduced to 35% (the rate usually reserved for ASEAN member countries) compared to the usual in-quota tariff rate of 40% and an out-of-quota rate of 50% with a TQR volume of 350 000 metric tonnes.
The Philippines is a mid-size country in terms of land area, but its population of 110 million makes it the world’s 13th most populous country. With a median age of 24 years, the Philippines has a comparatively young population and 48% of Filipinos live in urban areas. At USD 8 390 in purchasing power parity (PPP), GDP per capita is less than half the average GDP per capita of all countries analysed in this report (Table 23.3). Agriculture is an important sector for the Philippines, accounting for a quarter of total employment and 10% of GDP (Table 23.3). Farms tend to be small-sized with the average landholding at just 1.3 hectares.
Since 2012, the Philippines has achieved relatively stable growth of around 6% annually, and enjoys comparatively low levels of unemployment that had been falling since 2015 to approach 2% in 2019 (Figure 23.5). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP fell by around 10% in 2020 and unemployment levels increased. Inflation has been fluctuating and was above 4% in 2018 but declined to just over 2% in 2019 and 2020 (Figure 23.5). Overall, the Philippines economy, including its agro-food sector, is well integrated into international markets as measured by the ratio of trade to GDP at 21% in 2020.
With limited land and a large population, the Philippines is a growing net importer of agro-food products. Of these imports, close to three-quarters are processed goods that are used for (final) consumption or as intermediate inputs by the processing industry. On the export side, 43% are exports of primary goods for consumption. Overall, two-thirds of all agro-food exports are going to final consumers.
Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for agriculture in the Philippines is comparatively low, resulting in agricultural output growth averaging just over 1.25% per year, well below the world average (Figure 23.7). Increased use of intermediate inputs is largely offset by declining deployment of primary factors.
Agricultural land resources are under strain from frequent natural disasters, population growth and urbanisation. Water resources in the Philippines are abundant and the agricultural sector is the main water user - accounting for over 70% of total freshwater withdrawals (Table 23.4). Nonetheless, shortages can occur during the dry season in some regions. Energy use by the sector has increased but remains well below the OECD average. The nitrogen balance has slightly decreased, while that of phosphorus has increased, but both remain above the OECD average with phosphorus more than double this figure.
References
[3] Climate Transparency (2020), Philippines Country Profile as part of the Climate Transparency Report 2020, https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Philippines-CT-2020.pdf.
[5] DA (2022), Information provided to the OECD Secretariat by the Philippines Department of Agriculture.
[7] DA (2021), Climate Resilient Agriculture Office, http://amia.da.gov.ph/index.php/da-systems-wide-programs-on-climate-change/.
[6] EC (2021), Launch by United States, the European Union, and Partners of the Global Methane Pledge to Keep 1.5C Within Reach, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_21_5766.
[9] IFHV (2021), World Risk Report, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflicts, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2021-world-risk-report.pdf.
[1] OECD (2017), Agricultural Policies in the Philippines, OECD Food and Agricultural Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264269088-en.
[8] The Philippines Government (2021), Philippines Food System Transformation Pathway, https://summitdialogues.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Philippines-National-Food-Systems-Transformation-Pathway.pdf.
[4] UNFCCC (2021), Republic of the Philippines, National Determined Contribution, Communicated to the UNFCCC on 15 April 2021, https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Philippines%20First/Philippines%20-%20NDC.pdf.
[11] USDA (2021), Philippines Lowers Pork Tariffs and Raises Quota Volume, RP2021-0027, https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Philippines%20Lowers%20Pork%20Tariffs%20and%20Raises%20Quota%20Volume_Manila_Philippines_05-10-2021.pdf.
[10] USDA (2021), Philippines Reduces MFN Tariff Rates for Rice Imports, RP2021-0028, https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Philippines%20Reduces%20MFN%20Tariff%20Rates%20for%20Rice%20Imports_Manila_Philippines_05-12-2021.
[2] USTA (2021), Philippines - Country Commercial Guide, https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/philippines-import-tariff.
Notes
← 1. Unconditional refers to policies and measures which can be undertaken using nationally mobilised resources.
← 2. Conditional refers to policies and measures which require support or the means of implementation under the Paris Agreement.
← 3. PHP 3 000 in cash and PHP 2 000 in kind (PHP 1 000 for rice and PHP 1 000 for chicken and eggs). Beneficiaries can obtain rice, chicken, and eggs using an e-voucher system.