The Philippines is losing its farmland at a pace and scale that now threatens the country’s long-term food security. New figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show a steep decline in the land devoted to food production, underscoring a decades-old policy failure: the absence of a coherent national land use law that can protect prime agricultural areas from unchecked conversion.
Between 1991 and 2022, total farm area in the country fell from 9.97 million hectares to 6.16 million hectares — a staggering 38% drop in just three decades. That’s an average loss of more than 120,000 hectares every year, much of it swallowed by residential subdivisions, industrial estates, commercial hubs, and speculative real estate development.
This erosion of the country’s food base is even more alarming when viewed through the lens of rice production. Several studies show that nearly half of the country’s rice lands have been lost in the last 40 years, shrinking faster in rapidly urbanizing provinces near Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao.
Losing soil, losing sovereignty
The shrinking of farmlands is occurring at a time when the Philippines is increasingly dependent on imported food — particularly rice, corn, and vegetables. Each hectare converted into concrete is a hectare permanently stripped of its ability to produce food. Unlike infrastructure or housing, farmland cannot easily be “rebuilt.”
Food experts warn that these losses directly undermine food security. With domestic production unable to keep up with population growth, the country leans more heavily on global markets — which have become more volatile due to climate shocks, export bans, and geopolitical conflict.
By losing farmland, the Philippines isn’t just losing soil. It’s losing sovereignty over its own food supply.
Why farmland keeps disappearing
The drivers are familiar: rapid urbanization, speculative land buying, local governments rezoning agricultural land for commercial value, and national agencies routinely approving conversion applications.
Between 1998 and 2016 alone, the Department of Agrarian Reform approved nearly 100,000 hectares for conversion — and this doesn’t capture the unreported or illegal conversions often happening on the ground.
Meanwhile, the average farm size has collapsed from 3.6 hectares in 1970 to 0.83 hectares in 2022. This means farmers are producing food on smaller, more fragmented plots that are increasingly unprofitable, making them more willing — or compelled — to sell.
A policy vacuum 30 years in the making
At the heart of the issue is the failure of Congress to pass a National Land Use Act (NLUA) — a measure that has been languishing for more than 30 years despite strong support from civil society, planners, and several administrations.
Without this law, land use is governed by a patchwork of overlapping mandates among local governments and national agencies, each with its own priorities. The result: agricultural lands are often the first to go when developers arrive with deep pockets, and LGUs eager to boost local revenue routinely reclassify farmlands into commercial or residential zones.
A national land use framework would identify and protect strategic agricultural lands; set clear limits on conversion; prevent contradictory zoning decisions; balance development with food security; and strengthen climate resilience by preserving ecosystems.
The absence of the law leaves the Philippines with no guardrails against “development” that prioritizes revenue over long-term food sustainability.
Food security in an age of climate crisis
The land conversion problem is happening against the backdrop of worsening climate change. Typhoons, droughts, flooding, and heat stress have already slashed yields in key food-producing provinces. With less land available for recovery and expansion, the Philippines is losing resilience just when it needs it most.
Climate-resilient food systems depend on preserving soil, protecting watersheds, and maintaining local food production capacity. But conversion trends are moving in the opposite direction.
The clock is ticking
Agricultural land, once lost, is almost never regained. The disappearance of farmland is not merely a rural development issue — it is a national security problem. If the Philippines continues to trade farms for concrete, the country will face a future where food is both scarce and expensive, controlled not by Filipino producers but by global markets and foreign suppliers.
Passing the National Land Use Act will not magically reverse decades of farmland loss. But it can stop the bleeding — and give the Philippines a fighting chance at securing its own food future.
The shrinking of agricultural land is the canary in the coal mine. The question is whether policymakers will finally listen before the country reaches a point of no return.
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