Tuesday, April 01, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
A TOTAL of 2,047,400 hectares of new lands are being targeted for agribusiness by the Department of Agriculture (DA) from 2005 to 2010, the DA reported.
DA reported that the hectares of new lands for agribusiness are expected to generate at least 2,810,710 new jobs by 2010.
The target, DA said, is in line with President Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo's Ten Point Agenda under the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2005-2010, which is also known as Goal 1.
It was learned that aside from the DA, the Departments of Land Reform (DLR) and Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are also tasked to spearhead the development of the new lands.
The MTPDP, meanwhile, defines "new lands" as "idle or underutilized lands with potential for agricultural and fishery production (e.g. public lands, government owned properties, military reservations, alienable and disposable lands, private individual and corporate lands, CARP areas); new and existing agricultural areas which will be developed for intercropping of high value crops and diversification of livestock and fisheries (e.g., coconut areas and mango orchards); and off-shore and inland bodies of water for aquaculture and mariculture development (including areas for fish cages and seaweeds)."
Agribusiness, on the other hand, is defined as "the sum of all activities that occurs in a farming system that includes farm inputs/supply, production, processing and manufacturing, warehousing and storage, distribution, wholesale and retailing of plants, animals, fishery and forest products." It embodies the concept of "seed to shelf" which involves the complete supply chain.
DA also said that the country has a total land area of 29,936,400. Of this, existing area or land with planted crops reached 9,337,598 hectares.
Meanwhile, idle lands in the country are recorded to be at 8,811,240 hectares, while other lands are recorded to be at 11,787,562 hectares.
Lands with planted crops and idle lands are the available lands in the country for agribusiness. (JGRS)
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