Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
1
which exclude the poorest segment of the rural population from
participating in productive economic activity, and b) government policies
in support to the post-war development strategy which were generally
biased against agriculture.
The World Bank (1980) reported that from 1971 to 1975, rural
families living in absolute poverty increased by 23%. Sixty one percent of
all Filipino families living below poverty lines had agriculture as their
main source of livelihood.
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participation of small businesses in the countryside development failed
to create significant changes as shown by the fact that the rural sector
continued to remain disadvantaged compared to their urban counterpart.
The government of Corazon C. Aquino has gone further, moving quickly
to announce in mid-1986, the adoption of an “employment-oriented
agricultural and rural growth as the centerpiece of an ‘Agenda for People
Powered Development’ in raising farm productivity and rural incomes”
(Bautista, 1987, p.14).
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managing their business, such as management, marketing, and
financial operations (Mancebo, 1992, p.148). One cause of such
difficulty is the fact that one person who makes all of the
decisions usually manages these types of enterprises.
The above cited reasons though it may seem simple and are
identified, the difficulty seem to continue despite changes and effort to
correct the situation. For example, the Land Bank of the Philippines and
the Development Bank of the Philippines, both government-owned
banking institutions, has been spearheading in responding to the capital
requirement of agriculture-based enterprises and the formation of
community enterprises to support agricultural and fishery production.
Most of those who availed of the credit facility were community
cooperatives who were actively reached-out by the bank. Only a handful
of local businessmen dared to tap these resources to establish
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businesses that utilize local resources such as land and labor. It is sad to
note that he abundance of labor and land that are excess and under-
utilized in the rural areas could have been used for more productive
activities were not given enough attention.
Most likely, the situation had its roots from the experiences of
rural entrepreneurs from their past ventures such as business failures.
There are far more reaching reasons why rural SMRE’s are faced
with difficulties in sustaining their businesses. These difficulties are
offshoots of small business promotion assistance and activities that were
tied only to the resources and opportunities available on the countryside
and not towards utilizing the sector to a role that facilitates the
redirection of economic development emphasis, such as establishing the
linkage between the rural/agriculture and industrial sectors.
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8. Promotion of foreign trade, trades reciprocity, and well
regulated immigration,
9. Promotion of transport and communication facilities, and
10. Bank and credit facilities – the creation of an independent
currency and sound public finance systems (Montes, 1987,
p.345).
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development and industrialization was totally cut-of by the succeeding
plans of next government administrations that again focused their
development strategy to the industrial sector – which are usually located
in the urban centers. It was only recently that the government, after the
failure of the industrial sector to pull the economy upwards, refocused its
attention to the rural areas – as the solution to the growing poverty
among the country’s population.
The facts clearly showed that the failure lies on resolving the
missing link between these sectors. A structure to facilitate the formation
of an agriculture sector that respond to industrial and local needs
and vice-versa is absent. The investments made by entrepreneurs in
most rural areas that could have bridged these two sector together, were
mere consequences of the opportunities that are limited to making profit
rather than on the basis of a directed move to utilize the SMRE’s to an
interrelated role of economic development and industrialization.
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Without any clear role in the whole development interaction,
chances are, that any effort to strengthen the capabilities of SMRE’s
would not adequately respond to their sustainability, much more with
addressing the poverty problems in the countryside.
Conclusion
Note: This paper was presented by the author to the faculties and students of Business
and Social Science Departments of Massey University NZ.