THE Philippines must boost its agriculture sector to temper the rising costs of food items as inflation continues to surge, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said on yesterday.
Inflation reached 8.1 percent in December, largely due to higher prices of vegetables such as onions, and necessities like meat, sugar, fish and flour, among others, government data showed.
“Obviously the demand is very strong because the economy is recovering at the same time our supply has been constrained which is really ironic because we’re an agricultural country. The items registering high inflation rate are agricultural products like onions, like rice, like corn, fish and chicken – these are the basic products,” Pernia told ANC.
“Agriculture needs to be developed to the fullest. In other countries, agriculture has been given a lot of attention,” he added.
In the Philippines, agriculture is contributing only 2 to 3 percent to the economy as of this time, Pernia said, comparing it to the service sector which makes up 65 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). (ABS-CBN News)
