Nature and Importance of Agriculture

• Unit I covers the nature and importance of agriculture, including its definition, Philippine agriculture specifics, agricultural systems, history, world food situation, and crop sciences

Definition of Agriculture

• Agriculture is derived from the Latin words "Ager" (field) and "Cultura" (cultivation).
• It is the science and practice of producing plants, crops, and animals for food, human needs, and economic gain.
• Agriculture is both an art and a science, encompassing crop growing and animal raising.
• The primary aim of agriculture is to increase land productivity while protecting it from harm.
• The two main divisions: crop & animal production.

Agriculture as Art, Science, and Business

• Agriculture as an art requires skillful operation of the farm through applied knowledge.
• Agriculture as a science applies modern technologies based on scientific principles to maximize yield and profit, using modern techniques such as: hybridization, transgenic crops, biotechnology, etc.
• Agriculture as a business aims for maximum net return via management of land, labor, water, and capital to produce food, feed, fiber, and fuel.

Data and Facts of Philippine Agriculture

• The Philippines has a total land area of 30 million hectares.
• Agricultural land accounts for 47% (13 million hectares) of the total land area.
• As of 2021, 10.66 million people were employed in agriculture.
• In 2019, agriculture accounted for 22.3% of employed persons by sector.
• The average daily basic pay for wage and salaried agricultural workers was Php 270.62
• Central Luzon is the top agricultural output region with 14% of the total.
• Palay accounts for 4.8 million hectares of planted area, coconut for 3.6 million hectares, and corn for 2.6 million hectares.
• The top 5 crops by volume produced are sugarcane (26M tons), palay (20M tons), coconut (15M tons), banana (9M tons), and corn (8M tons).
• The Gross Domestic product (GDP) share of agriculture, forestry, and fishing was 9.6%.
• Top 3 export are banana (PhP 81.59 billion), pineapple (PhP 15.45 billion) and tobacco (Php 6.47 billion)
• Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSR) on Selected Agricultural Crops (2021). *SSR shows the magnitude of production in relation to domestic utilization. It indicates the extent to which a country relies on its own production resources, i.e. the higher the ratio the greater the self-sufficiency.

Philippine Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

• The agriculture sector suffers from low budget allocation, which may negatively impact farmers and the economy.
• Prime agricultural lands are being used for urban and high-density areas.
• The Philippines has 4.7M ha of area harvested, and Vietnam has 7.7M ha.
• Poverty among Filipino farmers is more than double that of farmers in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand.
• 39% of farmers lack access to formal credit due to a defective agricultural credit system.
• The Philippines has a low farm mechanization level of 2.77 horsepower per hectare.
• Inadequate irrigation affects 6.1M hectares considered irrigatable.
• Research and spending remain low and stagnant at around 0.16% of GDP with about 75,037 R&D personnel.
• Soil and water degradation issues include the loss of 25 billion tons of topsoil annually.
• Climate change impacts agriculture through flooding, drought, and increased pests/diseases.

Rice Tariffication Law (R.A. 11203)

• The Rice Tariffication Law liberalized the importation, exportation, and trading of rice and was signed by President Duterte on February 14, 2019.
• NFA lost its primary mandate.
• All rice importers must secure sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance prior to importation.
• There is removal of import restrictions and imposition of 35% tariff for ASEAN member states, 50% tariff for on-ASEAN member states
• RCEF: Rice Enhancement Competitive Fund (RCEF) of PHP 10 billion appropriation.
• Positive effects of the law include lower retail prices for consumers, addressing the rice shortage, low inflation rates, and interventions to support rice farmers
• Negative effects of this law include a lack of safety nets for Filipino farmers, potential displacement, and enable cartels of the rice trade

Nature and Features of the Philippine Agricultural Systems

• Agricultural systems are assemblages of components united by interaction.
• Farmers need proper planning for maximum profits from agriculture, covering crop selection to market sales.
• This field study can cover crop science, soil science, crop protection, and even animal science.

Three Major Agricultural Systems in the Philippines:

• Low land farming systems: rice and sugarcane.
• Rainfed farming systems: coconut, corn, and cassava.
• Upland farming systems: legumes and vegetables.
• Commodity based production systems.

Agriculture as a Field of Study

• Crop Science: Study of world’s food, feed, turf, fiber crops, genetics, environment, and management.
• Soil Science: Study of soil, formation, classification/ mapping, and fertility properties.
• Crop Protection: Science and practice of controlling pests, plant diseases, and other insects.
• Animal Science: Focuses on the science and industry of domestic animal processing of cattle, horses, chickens, sheep, and pigs.
• Economics: Deals with knowledge connected to production, consumption, resource transfer.
• Marketing: Deals with action/ business connected to sales promotion.
• Farm Management: Decision making/ optimum output/ benefit connected to planning a running farm.
• Agricultural Engineering: Farm Mechanization.
• Agro-forestry: Integrated crop and forest plant production.
• Fisheries: Deals with Pisciculture (rearing and managing of fishes).

Development of Agriculture Through Revolutions

• First Agricultural Revolution: Stone Age to Mesolithic Age: Hunter-gatherers and nomadic groups.
• Neolithic Age: Birth of civilization in the Fertile Crescent.
• Second Agricultural Revolution (18th-19th Century): exploded agricultural innovations and productivity soared.
• Third Agricultural/Green Revolution (20th Century): Mechanization with gasoline-powered machines and advancements of fertilizer/pesticide technology.
• Green Revolution (Mid-20th Century): Norman Borlaug, the "Father of Green Revolution" developed dwarf, high yielding and disease:resistant wheat varieties such as(Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62).
• 21st Century: organic farming.

Origin, Domestication, and History of Crops

• Nikolai Vavilov, a Russian and Soviet agronomist/geneticist identified centers of origin of cultivated plants with the proposal of the eight centers of agriculture, the one where they diversified greatly.
• China is the first rice cultivating country.

World Food Situation

• 11% (1.5 billion ha.) of the globe's land surface (13 billion ha) is used in crop production
• 2.818 billion tonnes of cereals are produced in the world in 2017.
• Corn, rice, wheat, barley, and sorghum are the top five cereals.
• In 2019, the world population was at 7.5 billion and it projected to be 9.7 billion in 2050.

Agricultural Developments in the Philippines:

• Pre-Colonial Period:
• Indo-Malayan migrants practiced wet land rice agriculture involving carabaos for cultivation near bodies of water -Slash-and-burn(kaingin) was used in other places where non-plow farming predominated. -Farms were backyard in coastal land settlements/ barangays, estimated at 500,000 with no ownership of land
• Colonial Period: -This resulted in an increase in the non-producing sector of people which translated to surplus crop for the Filipino people. -Haciendas resulted in steam/hydraulic powered mills.
• Post War Period: -Technological advancements took place including the use of modern farm inputs/mechanization. -International Rice Research institute(IRRI) brought about more high yield.

Philippine Agriculture National Research Centers

• Centers include DA-BAR, State Universities and Colleges(UPLB, BSU, etc), PhilRice, PCA and SRA, IRRI, ICRISAT, DA-BIOTECH CENTER, DOST- PCAARRD.
• Specialized research centers include IPB, NCPC, NPGRL, PHTRC and BIOTECH.
• Major International Research Organization include IRRI, CIMMYT, CIP,ICRISAT, CIAT and ICARDA.

Crop Science Defined

• Science: the systematically accumulated and tested knowledge.
• Plant: organism belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Plants are photosynthetic, and lack locomotive & a nervous systems.
• Crop: domestic/cultivated plants grown for profit.

Divisions of Crop Science:

• Agronomy deals with field crops; grains, legumes/pulses, oilseeds, pasture/forage, fiber, sugar, tuber and starchy root crops. -Horticulture deals intensive crop management. Ex. Vegetable/fruit/aromatic crops, and nursery/edible nuts/medicinal plants.