The Republic of the Philippines is a tropical country consisting of more than 7,000 islands. It is one of the largest island groups in the world covering a total area of 300,000 km2, 92 per cent of which is accounted for by the 11 largest islands. Of the 7,000 islands, only 3,144 are named. There are also thousands of small islets grouped with the larger islands.

The total cultivated area is estimated at 9.5 million ha, 56 per cent of which is used for annual crops. The average farm size is 2.2 ha.

Agriculture is the primary contributor in the country's economy, and at present it is the least import-dependent activity. From 1988 to 1990, the agricultural sector's contribution to GNP varied around 17 per cent. It provided about 30 percent of GDP and generated more than 60 percent of total export earnings. In addition about 41.5 percent of the labor force in 1996 was employed by this sector.

Rice (palay) is the staple food of about three fourths of the population. The major rice-producing areas are in the lowland portions of Luzon, particularly the Central Plain north of Manila. Corn (or maize) is the second most important food staple. Root crops, including cassava (or manioc), sweet potatoes, yams, and peanuts are staple foods for part of the population. Cassava accounts for over half the acreage in root crops.

The Philippine agricultural industry is characterized by various interrelated processes from production of seeds, processing, up to product marketing.

The Philippines has a long history of trying to mechanize agriculture from the Spanish era, primarily using plow, cultivators and corn planters. Rodulfo et al., 1998 and de Padua et al., 2000 both noted that early technologies from Spain and United States were technological failures mainly due to the lack of understanding of the local conditions and the notion that the imported technologies can be transplanted into the Philippine agriculture.

With the advent of high yielding, non-photosensitive rice varieties, the need for mechanization increased. Power tillers, threshers, cleaners and dryers were developed at UPLB and IRRI.

Rodulfo et al., 1998 noted that the level of Philippine mechanization in rice and corn farming is still dominated by human and animal technology. However, in the land preparation, threshing and milling operations, mechanization has reached a high level.

A majority of Philippine farmers, having a small landholding, do not own production and postproduction equipment aside from the low-cost hand tools. Economies of scale dictate that medium- and large-scale equipment be used by traders and big processors.

Rodulfo et al., 1998 reported that the increase of mechanization during the early 1970’s was mainly due to the following factors:

1. land reform program which effectively broke up the big estates into land parcels, which were awarded to the farmer tenants,
2. introduction of locally-made, low-cost power tillers,
3. availability of financial support for locally built farm equipment, and
4. the outbreak of hoof and mouth disease which adversely affected the carabao population.

De Padua et al., 2000 noted that with the comprehensive land reform program during the 1980’s, the government policy was to promote farmers groups, organized as cooperatives, to engage in production, processing and marketing of their harvest. During the last decade, reorientation of the R&D program started from the very hardware-focused technology development to a more information-driven, demand-responsive and system-based technology.

Area:
total: 300,000 sq km
land: 298,170 sq km
water: 1,830 sq km

Land use:
arable land: 19%
permanent crops: 16.67%
other: 64.33%

Climate:
tropical marine; northeast monsoon (November to April); southwest monsoon (May to October)

Terrain:
mostly mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Philippine Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Apo 2,954 m

Irrigated land: 15,500 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
Astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis

Current environmental issues:
Uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds