SPECIAL REPORTWhy PH lags behind rural, agri devthome/News/Top Stories/Why PH lags behind rural, agri devt(First of three parts)With the country’s agriculture sector growing by a dismal 0.56 percent in 2018 and rural poverty remaining high, there is a need to sound the alarm on what needs to be done for the country’s agriculture sector and rural areas. He said the agriculture sector must grow by at least 5 percent annually to reduce rural poverty. Thailand’s rural poverty incidence was 13.9 percent and national poverty incidence at 10.5 percent in 2013. Lopez said that food production was still best undertaken in the rural areas, so keeping rural areas “green” should be a long-term measure. The “regionalization” of provinces in the Philippines, which started during the Marcos years, was also a good step to spurring rural development, he said.

Source: Manila Times February 14, 2019 16:07 UTC