An economic expert says high taxes, custom duties, and tariff rates, as well as difficulty in procuring licenses and raw materials are among the barriers to private investments in the agriculture sector.
“The limited private sector investment in Philippine agriculture, which is evident in the small percentage of establishments – only 1 percent engaged in the sector— contributes to consistently low farm productivity,” Adriano said. “For those who are needing imported materials as raw materials, they complain about the high tariff rates of certain commodities. For example, you’re involved in animal feed milling, the tariff rate is about 35 percent lowest and it can go as high as 40 percent or above compared to Vietnam which is only about 2 percent,” Adriano explained.
According to him, the solution is to increase the farmers’ income or bring down the prices by lowering tariffs so that imported items including raw materials will come in, resulting in cheaper products. “Investments in infrastructure and in the capacity of our people—whether in agriculture, education, health, or transportation—are crucial in driving our nation and our economy forward… we put a high premium on investments in agriculture, as it is the key to combatting hunger and poverty, and achieving our goal of food sufficiency and security across the country, the President said.