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Monday, November 21, 2005
Agri dep't wants foreign investors for coffee, rubber
KORONADAL CITY -- The Department of Agriculture is rolling the red carpet for foreign firms who are willing to invest in the development of rubber and coffee in Mindanao.
Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said the door is now wide open for foreign investors in the "Land of Promise."
"In order to compete, developing countries must adjust their economic structures. This presupposes the need to privatize, open up, liberalize, and offer more incentives to private and foreign investments," he told participants to the First Investment Forum for Rubber and Coffee in Kidapawan City late last week.
Panganiban admitted the government does not have enough resources for the full development of agriculture in the country, which is why they are attracting potential investors from the private sector.
"A cursory assessment of the current trend in world trade reveals that demand for farm commodities like rubber and coffee will continue to rise as more and more nations attain industrialization," Panganiban said.
According to him, coffee and rubber are, in fact, among the top moneymakers in the global market.
He pointed out that around 94 percent of all coffee and 77 percent of all rubber produced worldwide are sold in the global market.
Panganiban said majority of the demand comes from the developed countries where agro-climatic features are not suited for coffee and rubber production.
Many developing countries in Southeast Asia have found in these two key commodities an "answer to the challenge of agricultural competitiveness," he added.
Panganiban said coffee and rubber productions have been sharply dropping in the country over the last few decades.
Citing recent agriculture statistics, the secretary noted that in 2001, Filipino coffee producers had posted a three percent growth rate over the previous year's production.
On the following year, however, the coffee industry's growth statistics plunged into a negative five percent.
Over the same period, the growth rate of the national rubber industry fell from a substantial 20 percent to only 1.5 percent.
"If nothing is done to revitalize our coffee and rubber industries, then we can only look forward to bleaker times ahead," Panganiban stressed.
Panganiban acknowledged that Mindanao grows the bulk of the country's coffee and rubber, noting that if the growth of national harvests has stagnated, it is because production in the island is on a downturn. (RBS)
(November 21, 2005 issue)
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