Buried deep in the reports of a glowing economy in the Calabarzon region is the stark fact that its farmers have been left out of the region’s economic boom.
That was the stark reality no sugarcoating could have remedied, as officials of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region IV-A tacitly admitted during its recent press conference last Tuesday, April 22.
The press conference, held in Calamba City, aimed to present the agency’s 2024 Report on the Economic Performance of Calabarzon, in which it reported the status of the region’s varied economic sectors.
Quick facts
But first, the glowing statistics indicating that Calabarzon’s economy has finally climbed out of the limbo caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to statistics provided by the PSA, Calabarzon’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Calabarzon region rose by 5.6 percent in 2024: from P3.09 trillion in 2023 to P3.27 trillion in 2024.
The industries sector contributed the highest contribution, or share, to the region's total GDP, at 49 percent, followed by services (46.8 percent) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (4.2 percent).
Manufacturing accounted for the highest share of the industry sector to the gross added value (GVA) in the region at 83.2 percent, followed by electricity, steam, water and waste management at 8.7 percent, construction at 7.7 percent, and mining and quarrying at 0.4 percent.
This, according to PSA IV-A Regional Director Charito Armonia, meant that the Calabarzon region has become the only region in the entire Philippines that is predominantly industrial.
The region now also ranked 9th among the 17 regions in the Philippines in terms of growth rate, Armonia added.
Bad news for agriculture
Despite these glowing data, however, it’s clear that 2024 was a “year of horrors” for the region’s agriculture industry.
The same report noted that the GVA of the region's agriculture, forestry and fishing sector actually declined by 0.7 percent – from P137.32 billion in 2023 to P136.37 billion in 2024.
By contrast, Calabarzon's industry sector grew by 4.3 percent during that year, while the services sector posted a 7.5 percent growth.
The negative growth rate also virtually wiped out whatever gains the agriculture sector gained in 2023 (P137.32 billion in 2023, compared to P133.35 in 2022).
Animal-rearing contributed the highest share to GVA of the agriculture sector at 54.4 percent, followed by crops at 23 percent; support activities at 15.4 percent; fishing and aquaculture at 7.2 percent; and forestry and logging at 0.01 percent.
Natural disasters
Still, some officials tried to find a silver lining amidst all these negative statistics representing the decline of the agriculture sector.
“The agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector…demonstrated resilience amid various disturbances,” Michael Lavadia, OIC-Regional Director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) IV-A, said in his speech during the conference.
These “disturbances” include the El Niño phenomenon, the three typhoons that hit the region during the latter part of the year, the prevalence of African swine fever, and rising production costs.
"Napaka-vulnerable talaga sa mga weather disturbance ang ating agriculture sector, and particularly, yung mga bagyo na dumaan sa atin mula September hanggang November ay naka-apekto sa ating crops at livestock," Lavadia added in response to a query from OpinYon Laguna.
In his speech, the NEDA official also highlighted various programs conducted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to offset the losses of farmers affected by these “disturbances.”
"Programs...such as the rice, corn [and] organic agriculture; social protections for fisherfolk and their families; and the 'Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa' played critical roles in safeguarding livelihoods and maintaining productivity of the agriculture, forestry and the fisheries sector," Lavadia stressed.
Predominantly industrial – at what cost?
However, one key point that officials seemed to have missed during the presentation of data is the alarming correlation between the decline of the region’s agricultural sector and the rise of the industries and services sector.
It goes without saying that there has been a rising trend of vast farmland, especially in Laguna province’s first and second districts, giving way to vast industrial, residential and commercial estates.
Farmers facing high production costs and declining profitability – coupled with the government’s seeming preference for importations to stabilize prizes – are now forced to give up their livelihoods and let go of the farms they have reared since their youth.
It’s true that it’s the rapid industrialization and commercialization that enabled Laguna province to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic – but what will happen when the farmers who feed us finally stop their own livelihoods?
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