JUST over 20 percent of the country’s agricultural population owned or had rights to their land as of three years ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a report released earlier this month.
The agency’s latest Census of Agriculture and Fisheries found that 4.3 million people, or 21.8 percent of the country’s total agricultural population of 19.68 million, had legally recognized documents of ownership or the right to sell or bequeath land.
Ownership was skewed in favor of males, who numbered 3.01 million — 70.1 percent — while females accounted for 29.9 percent, or 1.28 million, despite the agriculture population being just about equal in terms of gender: 10.13 million or 51.5 percent were males and 9.55 million or 48.5 percent were females.
Among males, 29.8 percent had secure rights to the land while just 1.28 percent of the female agricultural population held ownership, which the PSA said “highlights a significant gender disparity, with women being 16.4 percentage points less likely than men to own or have secure rights to agricultural land.”
The agricultural population comprises “individuals aged 18 and above who were members of households with at least one agricultural operator.”
The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), whose culture was said to place an emphasis on land ownership, had the highest proportion of ownership/rights over land at 28.6 percent of its agricultural population.
On the other hand, the Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Western Visayas regions had the lowest ratios of 16.8 percent, 17.6 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively.
Males also significantly outnumbered females in terms of secure ownership across all regions, the PSA reported.
The CAR had the highest proportion of female agricultural landowners/right bearers at 18.9 percent, followed by the Central Visayas (18.2 percent) and the National Capital Region (17.1 percent).
The lowest female land ownership ratios were in the Eastern Visayas (10.8 percent), Bicol (11.1 percent), and Ilocos (11.5 percent), the census found.
The PSA conducts the Census of Agriculture and Fisheries every 10 years. Data for the latest round was collected over 2022 and in September-November 2023.
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