Philippines

The Philippines has a population of around 100 million people. The agriculture and food sector in the Philippines account for almost 15-20% of gross national income.

It employs around 32% of the country’s working population and agricultural and food trade generates up to 10% of national exports. Agricultural production focuses on the following food crops: rice, coconut, banana, maize and cassava.

27-38% of the food energy consumed in the Philippines comes from crops that are not native to the region. Most of these plants’ diversity is found elsewhere on the planet. There are 155,660 crop varieties in collections of crop diversity found in the Philippines compared to the more than 700,000 found in the international collections of crop diversity supported by the Crop Trust.

The Philippines signed the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in 2006, joining 132 other contracting parties in commitment to the global system.