By Carmelito Q. Francisco, Correspondent
DAVAO CITY — Improving productivity and creating employment opportunities in the agriculture sector, alongside the rollout of projects for better logistics and access to local and global markets, would be key to Mindanao’s development, according to the Mindanao Jobs Report released here Friday.
The study — a collaboration between the World Bank, the government’s Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), and the private sector group Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) — also recommends that priority be placed on improving social services and strengthening institutions in conflict-affected areas.
“What the report tries to achieve is reinforcement of the idea that no single project, program or reform can solve Mindanao’s challenges. It is only through recognizing the interconnectedness of the constraints and their solutions, and by planning and implementing programs and reforms in a more focused and coordinated way that our country can unlock Mindanao’s potential,” said World Bank Country Director Mara K. Warwick during the launch.
She pointed out that Mindanao is home to about a quarter of the country’s population while one-third of the total number of poor Filipinos are in the country’s second biggest island.
“In the long run, progress in the entire country depends on the growth and development in Mindanao…significantly reducing national poverty hinges on reducing poverty in Mindanao,” said Ms. Warwick, who is also World Bank country head for Brunei, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Miguel Rene A. Dominguez, a former governor of Sarangani province in Mindanao and now chair of PBSP, said the focus on agricultural development is based on the southern island’s strength.
“(Agriculture) is the lowest hanging fruit,” said Mr. Dominguez, noting that while Mindanao is a major producer of agricultural goods, “unfortunately, the productivity, the yields of majority of our farmers who are small landholders or tilling our lands have remained very, very low.”
The report cites: “Instead of rising agricultural productivity paving the way for a vibrant manufacturing and services sector linked to the agriculture value chain, the converse has taken place in Mindanao.”
“Agriculture is not very productive except for a few export crops, manufacturing is constrained by inadequate infrastructure and the low productivity, low-skill services sector has become the catch basin for excess agriculture workers who cannot find jobs in cities,” it said.
Secretary Abul Khayr D. Alonto, MinDA chair, said the report is “timely and relevant to the priorities that we in Mindanao Development Authority (have) set out to pursue under the Duterte administration.”
Mr. Alonto is referring to the “socio-economic development initiatives…through the corridors approach spatial strategy or the Mindanao Development Corridors.”
The Mindanao Development Corridors, said Mr. Alonto, aim to ensure that “development is not limited to the growth centers, but is spread out to the developing areas.”

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