Agricultural Policy and Institutional Reforms in the Philippines: Experiences, Impacts, and Lessons

The Center began publishing this Primer series in 2005 to provide information on key aspects of agriculture and rural development (ARD) in the 11 countries comprising the Southeast Asian region. The first edition profiled the agriculture sector of each country and served as useful reference material for a wide range of users including researchers, academics, policy and decision makers, and development practitioners.

Recognizing that significant changes have taken place in the region in the last decade, SEARCA is publishing this second edition to update the Primer and keep it attuned to the changing agricultural landscape in Southeast Asia. SEARCA envisages these new Primers to be more thematic, analytical, and focused on specific key factors and concerns affecting ARD in each country.

This edition focuses on the analysis of each country’s experiences, lessons, and insights on policy reforms and institutional innovations in the agriculture sector. The Philippines Primer presents a way forward to achieving food security, not by artificially inducing high food prices through trade restrictions, but by shifting the focus of policy to efficiency-enhancing measures. It also asserts that the Philippines implement long overdue policy and governance reforms needed to foster a more competitive and shock-resilient agriculture sector to keep in step with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).