BUILDING A RESILIENT & COMPETITIVE AGRIBUSINESS SECTOR

MinDA Assistant Secretary Romeo Montenegro is one of the reactors in launching of the 23rd Davao Agri-Trade Expo (DATE) by the Davao City Chamber of Commerce via Zoom.

In line with this year’s theme, “Recalibrate Agribusiness in the New Normal,” Asec. Montenegro highlights the vital role of Mindanao’s agriculture sector in the country’s economy despite the shocks and disruptions brought by the global health crisis.

“The only sector that delivered us a positive growth during the pandemic is the agriculture sector where Mindanao accounts for 1/3 of the country’s farm area and where the majority of country’s major export agriculture commodities come from. The Mindanao Jobs Report emphasized that Mindanao’s economy is driven by the agriculture value chain contributing around 60% of Mindanao’s GDP and where six out of 10 jobs are aligned with it. With this, Mindanao holds out the best hope for our country’s agribusiness resiliency,” Asec. Montenegro said. He also provides figures on Mindanao’s economic performance that proves its resiliency amid the pandemic. “Mindanao economy has been able to maintain its position between 16.5% of the total GDP. One of the quite noteworthy achievements was its increase to 17.2% during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The GDP contraction in Mindanao is less than in Luzon and other parts of the country consistent with where we were in the last 10 to 20 years,” he added. To sustain the sector’s gains, he underscores the need to build interregional connectivity, establish complete value chain, improve technology, internet connectivity, and power supply, and maximize Mindanao’s strategic proximity and close cultural ties with the BIMP-EAGA and the greater ASEAN community. DATE is an annual event organized by the Davao City Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII), which aims to boost innovations and opportunities for developing the agribusiness industry and strengthen the public and private sectors’ partnerships and collaborations. It also assists the business community, notably the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), in fully optimizing the dividends of agriculture, which will contribute to the economic reboot and recovery efforts of the government. The DCCCII has lined up agritrade online exhibits, forums, webinar series, product promotions, and business matching activities.

NATIONAL NEWS