Philippine Farm Output Fails to Keep Pace With Population Growth, Farmers’ Group Says
Key Takeaways
- •The FFF said agriculture and fisheries have remained largely stagnant even as the Department of Agriculture has received higher funding.
- •Palay yields rose only to 4.14 tons per hectare in 2025 from 4.11 tons in 2022, below the DA’s five-ton target.
- •The Philippines has imported about 30% of its rice needs since 2022, compared with less than 10% around a decade earlier.
- •Montemayor said tariff cuts and increased imports after Executive Order No. 62 did not reduce retail prices and reduced farmers’ income.
- •The FFF cited unresolved concerns involving municipal fishing rights, agrarian reform issues, and pending agriculture commitments from the previous SONA.
By Marron Joshua F. Mendoza
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s administration has not delivered enough growth in agricultural production to match the Philippines’ rising population, keeping pressure on food supply and farm incomes at a time when the government has been seeking to improve domestic output.
FFF Chairman and former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor said in a statement that the agriculture and fisheries sectors have remained largely stagnant compared with the population’s 1% growth rate, even as the Department of Agriculture (DA) has continued to receive higher budget allocations.
Mr. Montemayor said the rice sector illustrates the limited gains. Although the DA has allocated 60% of its funding to the rice program, palay, or unmilled rice, yields have edged up only to 4.14 tons per hectare in 2025 from 4.11 tons per hectare in 2022. The level remains far below the DA’s five-ton-per-hectare target.
He also cited what he described as excessive dependence on imports to meet rising consumer demand. Since 2022, the Philippines has imported about 30% of its rice requirements, compared with less than 10% a decade earlier.
“Today, the country has the dubious distinction of being the biggest rice importer in the world,” Mr. Montemayor said.
According to Mr. Montemayor, tariff cuts and the increase in imports that followed the issuance of Executive Order No. 62 failed to bring down retail prices. He said these measures cost producers and farmers significant income and discouraged them from expanding production.
He also said government efforts to conclude free trade agreements with the European Union, Canada, and Chile are sending a signal to pork and poultry producers that the administration intends to import more and continue trade liberalization. Trade policy has been a sensitive issue for farm groups because lower import barriers can affect domestic producers while the government seeks to manage consumer food prices.
“For the 3 million rice farmers, their incomes declined by an estimated P50 billion per year in real terms since the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law in 2019,” Mr. Montemayor said.
Mr. Montemayor also raised concerns over the continued entry of commercial fishing vessels into municipal waters legally reserved for municipal fisherfolk, a longstanding issue for the subsistence fishing sector.
“The Marcos Jr. administration and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) are perceived as having fumbled the ball in protecting the exclusive rights of municipal fisherfolk,” Mr. Montemayor said. He cited the stalled court progress of the Mercidar Fishing Corp. case, which challenged the Fisheries Code provision designating waters within 15 kilometers from the shoreline as closed to commercial fishing operations.
On agrarian reform, Mr. Montemayor said he supports the signing of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act in 2023, which condoned the unpaid debt of agrarian reform beneficiaries. However, he said the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has been slow to act on illegal land conversions, unresolved agrarian disputes, and violence against activist farmers.
“The DAR has chosen to remain silent despite the clamor of landless farmers — pursuant to the constitutional provisions on agrarian reform and social justice — to be accorded a legal pathway to access and own land after the 2014 deadline under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) Law,” Mr. Montemayor said.
Mr. Montemayor added that several agriculture-sector commitments made in the previous State of the Nation Address (SONA) have yet to be fulfilled. These include a crackdown on profiteering in the trade of agricultural goods, the planting of 15 million coconut trees in 2025, and the approval of amendments to the Coconut Industry and Trust Fund Act of 2021. Progress on these commitments is likely to be watched by farm groups as a measure of whether higher public spending is translating into production gains and stronger protections for producers.