COMPARISON: PHILIPPINES AND VIETNAM

29.8

104.9

12.1

29.6

139

117

0.7

1.2

30(a)

21.6(a)

(a) Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimate in 2015.

(b) Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimate was 7 percent in 2015. World Bank -GSO Estimate in 2016 was 9.8 percent poverty incidence at national level and 13.6 for rural.

over $1 billion a year: fish and seafood, coffee and pepper, nuts, rice, and fish preparation. Moreover, it has six more products earning over $500 million a year. 33.1 95.5 10.9 43.6 397 262 4.8 4.6 13.6 (b) 9.8 0.90 1.10 1.11 0.68 0.35 0.45 0.15 0.26 2.21 (b)2.20

Where did the Philippines falter?

There are many factors: focus on rice self-sufficiency, land reform that led to lack of scale, lack of continuity of programs, absence of meritorious civil service, etc.

For its part, Vietnam has strengths and weaknesses. It is not perfect. But its record in agriculture and poverty reduction record are the envy of the world. The readers may want to read the World Bank report on Vietnam.

The report notes that Vietnam’s agricultural sector has made enormous progress. The country has emerged as one of the world’s leading exporters of agrofood commodities and is among the top five for aquatic products, rice, coffee, tea, cashews, black pepper, rubber, and cassava.

It added that there are bright opportunities in the local and export markets but competing in these will depend on the ability of its farmers to address reliability, quality, safety and sustainability issues.

Overall, “Vietnam’s growth has relied heavily on human, natural and chemical factors of production,” and much at the expense of the environment. But that is a different topic altogether.

nasalvador@ateneo.edu

n(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or the MAP.) ROLANDO T. DY is the Co-Vice Chair of the MAP AgriBusiness Committee, and the Executive Director of the Center for Food and AgriBusiness of the University of Asia & the

Pacific. in Congress, not only in the implementation of, but in the framing of foreign policy. On June 12, 2018, Senator Risa Hontiveros stated, “President Duterte and his foreign affairs officials have the responsibility to inform the people about their foreign affairs strategy to respond to China’s aggressive actions in the region.” In the light of this, she called for a foreign policy audit to “’determine if the Duterte administration’s foreign policy framework is in compliance with our international obligations, particularly the arbitral tribunal ruling on the West Philippine Sea.’”

As the real impact of foreign policy materializes through concrete issues that affect human lives at the societal level, it becomes high time for the actors of the Executive and legislative bodies to align their efforts in crafting and implementing a foreign policy that relates to the uncertainties of this fast-changing world.