UPLB Research and Extension News

Agriculture and fisheries, which employ about 13 million farm workers and fisherfolk that directly or indirectly support about 50 to 60 percent of the country’s population, remain the Philippines’ major engines of growth.

Today, the Philippine Agricultural Economics and Development Association, Inc. (PAEDA) opens its 47th Biennial Convention at the Bureau of Soils and Water Management Convention Hall. The PAEDA is a non-profit non-stock corporation established in 1954 by pioneering Filipino professionals in agricultural and development economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and various government offices, for the primary objective of promoting small-farmer productivity and profitability in the Philippines.

With the theme “Reshaping Institutions and Accelerating Economic Reforms for a More Competitive Philippine Agriculture in the 21st Century,” the conference will be keynoted by Dr. Shenggen Fan of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, a sister institute of the International Rice Research Institute.

The convention will underscore the critical role of institutions in the promotion of discipline and efficiency in properly steering the agriculture and fisheries programs and activities to overcome some of the key emerging global problems. These issues include the economic meltdown, global warming and climate change, trade liberalization, and the continuing national problems on productivity enhancement, product quality improvement, product market expansion, the strengthening of agribusiness ventures, provision of continued support for research and development, extension, credit, and infrastructure facilities. Among the topics to be discussed during the sessions are: Climate change, environment, and resource management; agrarian systems and land reform; food security and rural poverty; revolution in food processing and marketing; public-private sector partnership in agribusiness ventures; rural finance, credit, extension and other agricultural and support services; potentials of renewable energies, particularly biofuels; competition in the global agricultural market; strengthening and reshaping institutions; and agricultural human resource development.