The Department of Agriculture recognizes on its website that "the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector is pivotal in generating employment for about a third of the country’s labor force, thereby reducing poverty and inequality for three-fourths of the poor who are in the rural areas." It also says that the sector is key to providing raw materials to the manufacturing and service sectors of the Philippines. The DA also says that its mission is "to help and empower the farming and fishing communities and the private sector to produce enough, accessible...