The role of non-agricultural sectors in rural poverty reduction: A case study in Mindanao, Philippines

While the existing literature on rural poverty dynamics in the Philippines is mostly based on case studies in rice growing villages in Luzon and Panay islands, this paper examines the changing income composition and poverty status among rural households in corn and sugar growing areas in Bukidnon Province on the island of Mindanao, where the incidence of poverty tends to be much higher than in Central Luzon. Despite the slight overall increase in the incidence of poverty between 1984-85 and 2003, a substantial number of households, including those of landless agricultural laborers, escaped from poverty, and the majority of them did so through non-agricultural income growth. This finding is in line with the existing literature, despite some major differences in socio-economic environments and historical contexts between Mindanao and Luzon. We also find that non-agricultural economic activities that contributed to poverty reduction mainly consist of public sector jobs, such as school teaching, and that the role of private sector development in non-agricultural sectors, as well as that of remittances, appears to be minimal, which is in sharp contrast with findings from existing studies.