DEVELOPING AN AGRI-INDUSTRY HUB

“Mindanao is envisioned to become the country’s agri-industry center — a competitive and sustainable agri-industrial and resource-based economy,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion M. Navarro said in an e-mailed response to queries.

“The government’s ultimate goal in Mindanao is to reduce poverty and create massive quality employment.”

“Through partnerships with the private sector and coordination among LGUs ( local government units) and government agencies, Mindanao is envisioned to have significant economic progress and human development,” added Ms. Navarro.

Mindanao currently hosts about 40.4% of the country’s total poor population with poverty incidence rate at 36.2% in 2015 ( lower than 2012’s 41.3%) versus Luzon and Visayas’ 13.1% and 28.2%, respectively.

Mindanao’s economy accounts for 14% of the country’s gross domestic product. The region grew 4.9% in 2016 against Luzon’s 5.5% and Visayas’ 9.1%.

Even as Mindanao trails the rest of the Philippines in terms of growth, one of its urbanized cities, Metro Cagayan De Oro (CDO), is expected to emerge as the fourth metropolitan center in the country after Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.

Under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, Metro CDO will become the country’s fourth metropolitan center by 2025, which would function as Northern Mindanao’s gateway and trans-shipment hub of Mindanao’s agricultural products.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing make up more than 40% of Mindanao’s market, being the country’s largest supplier of major crops such as pineapples and bananas.

Indeed, Mindanao’s large agricultural base would be the main component of its growth story, according to the World Bank.

This is not just because the region produces bulk of the country’s major crops, but also employs a large share of the poor in that region.

The multilateral lender said that developing this sector would make the country more competitive in the export market, and would also bring down food prices across the country.

Mara K. Warwick, World Bank country director for the Philippines, however said that the region’s agriculture is currently “below its potential,” as it is only focused on a few export products.

She traced that to land issues in Mindanao, as well as poor logistic networks, that hinder farmers from diversifying into more highvalue crops.

“Land is a really challenging area, in Mindanao, the issues are particularly acute,” Ms. Warwick said in an interview.

“Many areas, overlapping land titling, land proclamations, unclear ownership of the land. And also there is still remaining uncompleted agrarian reform in many areas.”

However, a broad value-chain development effort would be