Mr. Chairman,

The Philippines would like to join other delegations in congratulating President Kanayo Nwanze for his well-deserved re-election. His uncontested re-election demonstrates the appreciation of the membership of his outstanding leadership of IFAD for the past four years.  The Philippines bears witness to IFAD’s contribution in allocating significant resources in empowering the smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples and rural women, under Mr. Nwanze’s leadership.

In the past few years, the Philippines has been supported by IFAD in implementing a program that aims to transform indigenous smallholder farmers  into market-oriented farmers.  The focus is partnership with the indigenous peoples in making their traditional lands productive, while sustaining the fragile environment which they depend on for livelihood.  The program also strengthens local participatory institutions to manage and monitor local forest resources while ensuring that rural indigenous women have equal share of the fruits of their labor.

During the food price spikes in staple crops particularly rice a few years back, IFAD assisted the Philippines in restoring stability in food prices by supporting rapid food production enhancements, particularly in certified seeds and small scale irrigations. The objective has been accordingly accomplished. Now, we are pleased to report that our Government is committed to achieving self-sufficiency in rice by the end of this year.

Mr. Chairman, the Philippines  has  a large migrant population, with remittances amounting to billions of dollars annually. The potential of these remittances to be invested in productive agriculture activities is huge but remains to be fully tapped.  In this regard, we appreciate IFAD’s innovative pilot project through capacity building for our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to ensure that these remittances are invested in appropriate economic activities. We look forward to further partnership with IFAD in this endeavor.

Turning to the theme of this year’s Governing Council Session, “The Power of Partnership: Forging Alliances for Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture,” we believe this indeed to be  a timely topic to revisit as we celebrate this year’s  UN International Year of Cooperatives and, next year’s,  International Year of Family Farming.

The Philippine Government has embraced partnership with smallholder farmers as one of the guiding principles of governance and in accelerating rural development.

One type of partnership is a program to address high transaction costs and a gap in information that prevents smallholder agriculture access to markets. To address these issues, the Philippine Government established trading centers in strategic areas of the country. The trading centers provide cold chain facilities that enable smallholders to store their perishable commodities. Due to the bulk investment required, the smallholder farmers cannot individually afford such facilities.  The trading centers also have information booths that provide indicative market prices for commodities hence provide opportunities for smallholders to demand better prices for their produce. The smallholder farmers can access these facilities for a fee.  All too often in the past, smallholder producers cannot market their goods for remunerative prices as middlemen take the bulk of the value chain. Today, this obstacle has been minimized.

A similar partnership program also applies to small scale fish farmers. The Philippines is an archipelagic and tropical country, where bringing marine products to the market and keeping them fresh are major challenges for small scale fish farmers. The provision of cold chain facilities is a major intervention to prolong the shelf life of marine products and keep their market value. This is also a way of encouraging small scale fish farmers to adopt responsible fishing practices as these will increase their income. A further elaboration of this program is underway to expand its scope. IFAD is a  possible partner for this program.

The Philippine Government takes very seriously the promotion and expansion of organic farming with smallholder agriculture. The major challenge that smallholder agriculture faces in organic farming is the high cost of organic certification. The Government shares the initial cost of certification to overcome this difficulty. Many challenges remain for smallholder agriculture. Admittedly, smallholders are the most vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events. One major challenge is how to make smallholder agriculture “climate change resilient.”

Last year, a region of the Philippines, which is not normally affected by such extreme weather events, was devastated by a typhoon.  The changing weather pattern, most adversely affected the smallholder coconut farmers and banana plantation out growers in the region. While banana plantation out growers were on long term contracts with big corporations for their produce, there was no provision for insurance for such inclement weather events. The affected smallholder coconut farmer and banana out growers face a daunting challenge and an uncertain future on how to recapitalize their farms,  or whether it is worthwhile to plant the same crops at all because of the changing weather pattern. While the Philippine Government has decided to extend concessional loans to these smallholder farmers, this is  but a temporary solution.

As these unpredictable weather events expose the weaknesses of   smallholder agriculture, it is time to revisit measures to bolster resilience and adopt a systemic approach to assist smallholder agriculture.

The Philippines looks forward to working with IFAD to take initiatives and adopt innovative measures to address the new challenges facing smallholder agriculture and, in particular, the challenges posed by climate change.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.