Expert: Create more jobs by modernizing PHL agri
RETURNING migrant Filipino workers can turn to agriculture if the government is able to put in place targeted policies and programs that will develop the sector, according to an expert from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In an Asian Development Blog, ADB agriculture economist Matthias Leitner said an improved farm sector would be able to provide employment to thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who are being displaced abroad due to the ongoing pandemic.
Leitner said that in the Philippines, the government expects more than 400,000 overseas workers to return home by the end of the year. Covid-19 is displacing migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries.
He also noted that the government is already providing free reskill programs in for displaced OFWS.
“The agriculture sector will play a crucial role in the country’s [Philippines] recovery from Covid-19 impacts, albeit struggling with persistent low labor productivity,” Leitner said.
“Average wages for non- agricultural workers are about 10 percent higher than the maximum dailywage rate in agriculture. For the sector to absorb additional incoming labor, it needs to modernize and improve its competitiveness.”
One way to modernize the sector,
Leitner said, is through agricultural digitalization of the production, processing, transportation, and marketing of agricultural goods.
He said, however, that the government is pushing for a “new thinking” in agriculture and is focusing on modernization and value-addition to be an engine of growth and create much-needed capacity for labor absorption.
Leitner said sustaining these efforts will require having the right policies in place in the coming months and years.
The agriculture sector in many Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, already has commonly known shortfalls, even before the pandemic struck.
These include low labor productivity, low diversification, low levels of mechanization and limited valueaddition. Absorbing additional labor will both be an enormous challenge as well as an opportunity.
“Returning rural migrants are often highly skilled and home countries can use this potential by creating the right job opportunities. Through targeted policies and programs, returning labor can strengthen agricultural value chains through novel infrastructure know-how, engineering skills, and infusing rural areas with new farming techniques and digitalization,” Leitner said.
Last week, the Department of Labor and Employment said 505,837 OFWS were already “affected” by the pandemic. Of these figures, he said 9,402 became infected with the disease.
The remaining 496,435 workers were displaced, when they permanently lost their jobs or were momentarily not able to return to work.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said 104,000 of these OFWS still refused to come home despite having no employment in their host countries.