AMID modern infrastructure projects in the region, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 chief promises to continue to support the agriculture sector.
One of the ways, said Efren Carreon, is to position Central Visayas as one of the country’s agro-processing hubs.
“We are not leaving agriculture and fisheries behind since these are very important sectors. There are a lot of challenges…We have limited agricultural land, we are an island economy. We have no plantation agriculture here like in Mindanao. We are at a little disadvantage,” said Carreon during a regional economic overview presented before members of the Life Underwriters Association of the Philippines (LUAP) Cebu on Tuesday.
The region’s economy is mostly concentrated in industry and services, covering 36.9 percent and 57.2 percent, respectively, while agriculture contributed a meager 5.9 percent to the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2015.
According to the local economic chief, poverty incidence in the region is highest in the agri-fishery sector. Leaving them behind, in the face of the rise of industries and services, will leave the poverty incidence rate higher.
The strategy, he said, is to become an agro-processing hub in the Visayas by sourcing affordable raw materials from Mindanao. Agro-processing is a subsector of manufacturing that processes raw materials derived from agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Cebu, for instance, is a big producer of dried mangoes for domestic and export use.
At this point, Carreon said Metro Cebu is sourcing most of the vegetables from Bukidnon through the Cagayan de Oro port, since it is cheaper to source vegetables from Mindanao that from Eastern Visayas.
The plan of developing more economic zones in Cebu can be a means to strengthen the agro-processing industry in the region.
Special economic zones are areas within the country that follow different business and trade laws where companies located within the zone are offered tax holidays and incentives to encourage investments and job creation.
Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) Director General Charito Plaza earlier expressed support for the refiling of House Bill 1319 that would transform Cebu Province into an economic zone.