AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines is a country where agricultural work is largely done by hand. It could take up to one hundred workers to harvest one hectare of agricultural crops. Agricultural practices of the country normalized farms that could buy five machines, running crews of as many as two thousand Filipino farmers.

Agricultural productivity is not at its best. But farmworkers can be hired for as little as $75 a month, so small-scale operations have held off on improving their efficiency.

While the prospect of cheap agricultural land and dirt-cheap labor in the Philippines may sound appealing, consider what many OFWs (overseas foreign workers) have been doing with their money.

After years of Filipino workers in Singapore and the Middle East remitting cash home for their cousin’s jeepney business, or the family’s sari sari store, those workers are now putting their remittances into low-end real estate. However, issues with theft, misuse of money and incompetence are told, not only by expats who married Filipinos, but locals as well.

For instance, one former piggery owner we met with here in Manila says that she entrusted her ten-acre farm to her mother. One day, the mother called and informed her “all of the chickens died last night.”

Imagine fifty chickens all dying in one night. It turns out the mother had killed a few chickens to feed the “poor family” living nearby in the provinces far from Manila … and sold the rest under the table.

Personally, we believe that just because others fail at a business doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed. But agriculture in the Philippines is not a passive investment where you drop money and come back at harvest time to collect an envelope full of cash.

https://nomadcapitalist.com/finance/investing/invest-philippines-agriculture-without-getting-dirty/