Importance Of Poverty In The Philippines

I. Introduction

A. Background of the Study

The Philippines was one of the top performing countries during the early years, but as time passed, the country was slowly unbecoming. From the top rice producers of the world, we are now importing rice. Once one of the more advanced countries, now we remain as a country who practices subsistence agriculture.

The group’s study wants to provide a context that is relevant nowadays. Seeing as how the urban poor has more benefits and advantages than the rural poor, the group wants to study if it does have a relationship and if it is factual; whether or not the people from urban cities have a lower probability of living in poverty. Also, we want to see the spatial distribution in the urban population,

Poverty is most severe and most widespread in these areas and almost 80 percent of the country’s poor people live there. Agriculture is the primary and often only source of income for poor rural people, most of whom depend on subsistence farming and fishing for their livelihoods. In general, illiteracy, unemployment and the incidence of poverty are higher among indigenous peoples and people living in the upland areas. Overall, more than a third of the people in the Philippines live in poverty.

The poorest of the poor are the indigenous peoples, small-scale farmers who cultivate land received through agrarian reform, landless workers, fishers, people in upland areas and women.

There are substantial differences in the level of poverty between the regions and provinces and the poverty gap between urban and rural areas is widening. Indigenous people living in highly fragile and vulnerable ecosystems, people in the uplands of the Cordillera highlands and on Mindanao Island are among the poorest in the

Among the causes of rural poverty are a decline in the productivity and profitability of farming, smaller farm sizes and unsustainable practices that have led to deforestation and depleted fishing waters. Rural areas lag behind in economic growth and they have higher underemployment. This is partly because poor people have little access to productive assets and business opportunities. They have few non-farm income-generating activities, and people lack access to microfinance services and affordable credit. Some vulnerable groups also face specific problems. For example, indigenous peoples have high illiteracy rates and are affected by the encroachment of modern technology and cultures onto traditional norms and practices. Fishers face continuing reduction in their catches and they have few opportunities or skills outside of fishing. Women have limited roles outside of marketing and family responsibilities.

RURAL POVERTY IN THE PHILIPPINES

In the Philippines, poverty remains mainly as a rural phenomenon, but urban poverty is on the rise. A large portion of the population’s poor is found in the rural and agricultural areas. Primarily, farmers and fishers are experiencing the extremes of poverty since their livelihood doesn’t provide them with much income. However, there is an increasing number of poor households in urban areas, typically found in the informal sector. These people were