Fact Sheet Philippines – Women in agriculture, environment and rural production (2024)

Agriculture plays a significant role in the Philippineeconomy. Involving about 40 percent of Filipino workers, it contributes anaverage of 20 percent to the Gross Domestic Product. This output comesmainly from agribusiness, which in turn accounts for about 70 percent of thetotal agricultural output (CIDA-LGSP, 2003).

The main agricultural enterprise is crop cultivation. Othersare chicken broiler production, including operation of chicken hatcheries (20.4percent), agricultural services (19.8 percent), and hog farming (18.4 percent)(NSO, 2002).

The general trends in the last two decades present a dimpicture of the agriculture sector. Significant decrease in productivity, highproduction costs, and low government support to the sector, among other things,have led to a crisis in Philippine agriculture (CIDA-LGSP, 2003).

The neglect of the agriculture sector and the unevendistribution of resources worsened the poverty situation in rural areas. Onlythe remittances of migrant workers to their families have enabled the latter tosurvive crippling poverty brought about by stagnant agricultural productivity,stiff competition from cheaper food imports, and periodic droughts and floodsthat devastated crops and livelihoods.

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Rural women undertake a variety of production and caringactivities. Though not counted in official statistics, women are active economicactors such as landless workers, traders of agricultural and fishery products,and engaged in micro-manufacturing enterprises. Of the total rural work force,women comprised 27.3 percent of the 10.4 million workers employed in theagricultural, hunting and forestry sector in 2004 (NSO, 2004).

Women's actual contribution to food production and ruraleconomy remains undervalued if not invisible. As a result, women have lessaccess to productive resources than men do. Access to land, technology,extension services, capital, and infrastructure support tend to favour rural men(WAGI, 2003).

Ownership of land remains elusive for many rural women. As peran assessment from January to September 2001, women comprised only 34.8 percentof total agrarian reform beneficiaries (Philippine NGO BPA+10 Report,2005).

Crop Production

Major agricultural systems include lowland irrigated farming,rainfed farming and upland farming. Irrigated farm areas mainly grow rice andsugarcane whereas rainfed areas are planted with coconut, corn and cassava. ThePhilippines' major agricultural products include rice, coconuts, corn,sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, and mangoes.

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From 1999 to 2003, women's participation was significant inplanting/transplanting, manual weeding, care of crops and harvesting. Women wereleast involved in land preparation and furrowing. In palay farming, about35 percent to 49 percent of the farming households hired women workers inpulling and bundling of seedlings, and in planting and harvesting activities.More women workers were also employed in corn (harvesting/husking, planting andtransplanting and care of crops), and sugarcane farming (weeding and fertilizerapplication). Women workers were least employed in coconut farming, particularlyin the removal of coconut meat (BAS, 2004).

The following chart describes the gender division of labour inrice production:

Source: BAS, 2004
Note: F - Female; M- Male; B - Both

Women farmers toil with their male counterparts in most of thefarm tasks, except for food preparation, which is usually undertaken by thewomen, and for ploughing with tractors, which is usually done by men. Ruralwomen are also mostly responsible for accessing capital needed for farmproduction. Many of these women engage in off-farm activities that can helpaugment household income (PPI, 2002).

Forestry

The Philippines' total land area is 300 179 sq km, 49 percentof which is classified as forest (although only 21 percent is under forestcover) (EIU, 2001/2002). It directly supports approximately 30 percent of thepopulation, including indigenous peoples. Three percent of the total land areais still unclassified (DENR, 2004).

With a per capita forest cover of about 0.085 ha, the forestcover of the Philippines ranks as one of the 11 poorest among 89 countries inthe tropics. It declined from 70 percent of the total land area in 1900 to about18.3 percent in 1999, or just over 5 million ha of residual and old-growthforests (ESSC, 1999a as cited in FAO, 2001).

Among forest-based industries, more women are employed in sawmilling than in logging, veneer and plywood manufacturing, and other wood-basedproducts manufacturing. On the whole however, there are more men than womenemployed in forest-based industries (DENR, 2004).

Women in the environment and natural resources (ENR) sectorare constantly seen in the limited context of implementing forestry-relatedprogrammes, focusing on special activities such as nursery establishment inreforestation. There is a need to expand women's participation in ENR programmesand projects, particularly as these affect their roles as: a) heads ofhouseholds who might benefit from forestry-related programmes; b) entrepreneursin forestry-related occupations needing assistance and extension services; c)technical workers and researchers especially in the private sector, and assupervisors and managers in both private and public sectors in ENR developmentand management (PPGD, 1995-2025).

The continuous destruction of the environment threatenseveryone, but has graver consequences for marginalized women and indigenouscommunities. The immediate effects of environmental problems on them include notonly the loss of traditional sources of livelihood and food, but also seriousdamage to health and life (FPW, 2001-2004).

Since time immemorial, women and indigenous culturalcommunities have taken part in the maintenance of ecosystems. A corollary ofthis is that they are especially affected by the deterioration of theenvironment. There is a need therefore to harness women and indigenous groups asactive agents in the preservation of the environment: as advocates supportingprogrammes for environmental maintenance; as vigilant groups deterringpolluters; as educators advocating values on conservation/development of naturalresources and preservation of the environment; or as agents of technologygeneration for environmental sustainability (PPGD 1995-2025).

Fisheries

Fisheries is an important sector in the Philippine economy.The fisheries industry accounted for 15 percent ($1.22B) and 18.6 percent($618.2M) of the Gross Value Added (GVA) in the agriculture, fishery andforestry sectors at current and constant prices, respectively, with the secondlargest share next only to agricultural crops (BFAR, 2004). The sector providessubstantial employment and income for some segments of the population,contributes to export earnings, and supplies a major part of the dietary proteinrequirement of the population as a whole (DA, 2004).

With regard to employment, the fisheries sector providesdirect and indirect employment to over one million people, or about 5 percent ofthe national labour force, of whom 65 percent (675 677) are in municipalfisheries, 26 percent (258 480) in aquaculture and 6 percent (56 715) incommercial fisheries (BFAR, 2004).

Of the total employed workers, women consisted of only 8.2percent, dropping to 6.3 percent in 2002. Whereas men fishers are primarilyinvolved in catching fish, women are engaged in pre- and post-fishingactivities. Women undertake 50 percent to 70 percent of local fish processingand marketing activities. They are also involved in mending the nets and tendingthe fishing equipment, among others (Philippine NGO BPA+10 Report,2005).

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Currently, the fisheries sector is besieged with major issuesand concerns brought about by the open-access policy in fisheries resources use,the rapid increase in population size of the poverty-stricken fishingcommunities where the exploitation of natural resources is most intense, and theinability of the government to provide for an environment that can support thefishery industry's growth and development (DA, 2004).

Livestock

Livestock production contributed 12.7 percent to totalagricultural output. The most common livestock raised in the Philippines includebroiler chickens, carabao, cattle, ducks, goats, and swine.

The livestock subsector, which contributed 13.53 percent tototal agricultural production, posted a negative growth of 0.41 percent in 2004.This was largely attributed to the decline in hog and cattle production (DA,2004).

In lowland irrigated and rainfed farming systems, householdsgenerally raise a brood of chickens, ducks and or geese, and one or two pigs. Onthe other hand, cow and/or carabao (water buffalo) are among the other animalshouseholds keep (Illo, 1994).

Women in the rice and corn industry allot three hours to dofarm-related work during ordinary days. This does not yet include 1-2 hoursspent in backyard gardening and livestock raising, which provide most of theirdaily provisions and even for special occasions as in the case of hogs theyraise (PPI, 2002).

In the dairy sector, women are involved mainly in: sanitizingmilk equipment and facilities; cleaning cattle barns, grazing areas andsurroundings; and conversion of raw milk into milk products. Men participatemore in: production, cultivation and harvesting of fodder and other crops; watercollection; collection of feeds of animals; watering and grazing cattle; calvinganimals; tending to sick animals; and milking and bathing of cattle. Both womenand men share responsibilities in feeding the cattle, and the proper managementand handling of cattle prior to milking (NDA, 2005).

Women who are involved in dairying, especially those whoactively participate in dairy production, are prone to physical strain comparedwith men. The lack of machine-assisted facilities or equipment (e.g. milkmachine) that would aid women in milking the cows can be an additional burden towomen in terms of time and physical ability or strength. The additional timethat is required of manual labour may also eat up time from their caregivingfunctions at home and to their children, thus creating multiple burdens on women(NDA, 2005).

Division of Labour inDairying

Source: Paunlagui, 2002

Most women seem to be unaware of their potential roles indairying, thus missing out on their possible contributions to the sector'sdevelopment. The farmers' views on traditional roles in dairying, the lack ofeffective gender responsive dairy campaigns, the failure to value women's workin dairying and to deliberately target women beneficiaries are factors that makewomen unaware of their roles as potential contributors in the dairy industry(NDA, 2005).

Although women assume mainly the responsibilities of the dailyactivities in goat raising (herding, feeding, cleaning of the pen, cleaning offemales anuses, assisting nursing of kids), they have a minor role in receivingand applying new techniques that could improve overall goat raising (Solis,2002).