The Philippines’s Irrigated Rice Production Enhancement Project

Although agriculture generates about 11 per cent of the GDP of the Philippines, it provides livelihoods for 30 per cent of the population (OECD, 2017). This share is higher in rural areas, where 70 per cent of the population is poor and depends on agriculture – primarily rice production. Rice is one of the most important commodities for the Philippines. In Filipino diets, rice is the principal source of energy and protein, accounting for 46 per cent of calorie availability and 34 per cent of protein (WFP, 2017). Therefore, improving rice production and productivity remain major policy priorities. The country has one of the largest yield gaps in South-East Asia (FAO, 2010), and a large focus of agricultural policy is on how best to improve smallholder family farm rice productivity in order to keep prices down in the face of production efficiency issues (Bordey et al., 2016), rising demand from a fast-growing population (PSA, 2016), and climate change effects (Rosegrant et al., 2016)