Agriculture

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Abstract
Argues that the poor performance of the Philippines in agriculture has been due more to weaknesses in the policy and institutional frameworks governing the sector than to real domestic and external market factors. It begins by describing the growth patterns of agricultural gross value added, foreign trade, measures of comparative advantage, and labor and land productivity. It proceeds to examine how price interventions and the public expenditure program failed to promote rapid growth of the sector. Institutional issues – specifically weaknesses in the property rights structure and the agricultural bureaucracy – and political economy explanations as to why the policy and institutional structures evolved in the way they did are explored and addressed.