This article provides one of the first academic assessments of upstream agribusiness value chain and rural livelihood challenges after the November 2013 Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which devastated many coastal communities in the central Philippines. Based on a survey and semistructured interviews among fisherfolk, seaweed farmers and other stakeholders in Iloilo Province, this article lays bare the limited viability of the seaweed value chain as a result of the recurring typhoon threat, other environmental pressures and an ineffective regional political economy. Since Typhoon Yolanda, the marginalized communities have depended on horizontal coordination and support from international civil society. The empirical results show that enhanced information dissemination and public sector cooperation are necessary for the seaweed value chain to become more inclusive. The results could also have a wider significance for rural development in other coastal areas in Southeast Asia, namely in the spheres of adaptive strategies amidst vulnerability, upstream vertical coordination and upgrading.
The insertion of Philippine agriculture and fisheries into global value chains has not contributed significantly to rural poverty reduction, in contrast to several other Southeast Asian countries. While there are pockets of downstream export successes, upstream actors face persistent precarious conditions. This comparative investigation of the relationships between value chains and rural development fills a gap in the literature on the Philippines. An analysis of four important products affecting at least 3 million households illustrates the need to focus more on upstream value‐chain governance and pro‐poor rural development interventions. This article shows that the integration of livelihoods and value‐chain analyses has the advantage of fleshing out upstream challenges that are relevant for agri/aquabusiness performance, socio‐spatial policies, and refinements of rural development theories. It is unlikely that horizontal coordination/social capital as well as associated upgrading efforts will be effective without a stronger emphasis on vertical coordination and human‐capital formation.
This article provides a review of regional inequalities in the Philippines, one of the most challenging countries in Southeast Asia due to its combination of continuing high population growth in both urban and rural areas and lack of gainful employment. The article connects structural drivers of regional disparities to policy options recently proposed in the important book Inequality in Asia and the Pacific, to bring about balanced regional development in Asia by: 1. improving regional connectivity, 2. transferring fiscal resources for greater investment in human capital and better access to public services in poor regions, 3. developing growth poles in lagging regions and 4. reducing barriers to within-country migration. While refinements of current policies and schemes with respect to the first three policy options might lead to curbing the persistence of regional disparities and to faster provincial poverty reduction, promoting more rural-urban migration will likely lead to a relocation of poverty to urban slums; in fact, the poverty incidence in several Philippine core provinces has risen in the last decade. The trends and patterns observed in the Philippines constitute valuable inputs for connecting structural drivers of regional disparities to specific empirical contexts in neighbouring countries and for improving regional policymaking. Zusammenfassung: Im Fokus des vorliegenden Beitrags liegt die Betrachtung regionaler Ungleichheiten auf den Philippinen. Aufgrund einer Kombination aus beständig hohem Bevölkerungswachstum, sowohl in städtischen als auch in ländlichen Gebieten, sowie dem Mangel an Erwerbsmöglichkeiten, steht das Land besonderen sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Herausforderungen gegenüber. Diskutiert werden auf der einen Seite die strukturellen Antriebskräfte regionaler Ungleichheiten und auf der anderen Seite politische Handlungsoptionen, die jüngst in einem grundlegenden Werk zur Ungleichheit in Asien und dem Pazifikraum vorgelegt wurden: 1. Verbesserung der regionalen Konnektivität, 2. Steuerliche Umstrukturierung zur Förderung und Inwertsetzung des Humankapitals und einer Verbesserung des Zugangs zu öffentlichen Dienstleistungen vor allem in benachteiligten Regionen, 3. Entwicklung und Förderung von Wachstumszentren in benachteiligten Regionen, 4. Abbau von Mobilitäts-und Migrationshemmnissen innerhalb des Landes. Anhand vorliegender statistischer Daten lässt sich aufzeigen, dass politische Maßnahmen im Sinne der drei erstgenannten Optionen durchaus dazu geeignet sein können, regionale Ungleichheiten und Armut im Allgemeinen zu mindern. Eine Verbesserung der Mobilität hingegen hätte vermutlich die Folge, dass ländliche Armut lediglich in urbane Räume verlagert würde-ein Trend, der sich tatsächlich anhand der Daten der zurückliegenden 10 Jahre beobachten lässt. Die aufgezeigten Trends und Muster auf den Philippinen liefern wertvolle Hinweise auf die regionalen Ungleichheiten zugrundeliegenden Antriebskräfte und könnten als Ausgangspunkt für entsprechende und vergleichende Analysen in den Nach...
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