MINDANAO should transition back and focus on being an agri-dominated economy again in order to be able to reach the 2020 target of reaching about 8 to 9 percent gross regional domestic product (GRDP), the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) said.
Minda deputy executive director assistant secretary Romeo Montenegro said on Wednesday that Mindanao has structurally transitioned from agri-dominated economy to already services and industrial sector.
“We are already achieving quite a comfortable level of growth particularly in the services and industry sector. It is in the agriculture sector where we really need to do more. To be able to generate more growth and revenues for the Mindanao economy, we have pushed a lot especially in the agri sector because the reality we now see in Mindanao is we have structurally transitioned from agri-dominated economy to already services sector,” he said.
He cited Davao Region being one of the top performing regions in terms of GRDP in 2016 as the region was able to reach 9.4 percent of GRDP which was the highest among the other 17 regions nationwide. Montenegro said this rate was mostly made by the performance of the agriculture sector most especially by the exports made by the region, followed by the good performance of the services and industry sector.
“Another effort being pushed is the consolidation of industries so when we talk about agri-development in Mindanao, we look at supporting other industry group…By working with the industry groups, we will be able to leverage with the national government on the kind of policy and infrastructure support that is needed to expand and allow these industries and commodities which fortunately also falls under the investment priority areas of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture,” he said.