NEDA Assistant Director-General for Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon calls for more manufacturing activities to advance economic growth not only at the national level but also at the region as well.“If we want to grow rapidly, we should be looking at the industry sector particularly in manufacturing,” said ADG Edillon during the RDC 2 Week Celebration held last Thursday at the Crown Pavilion, Tuguegarao City.

According to ADG Edillon, the sector procreates innovation through the value-adding of goods and services, e.g. processing of agricultural products. “Manufacturing is six times more productive than agriculture and two to three times more productive than the services sector,” she stated.

With employment creation remaining a big challenge in the country, the expansion of the industry would either encourage more employers or empower new set of employers absorbing the increasing labor in the country. This, she elaborated, will be made possible through increased investments by boosting competitiveness of the production sectors, promotion of science and technology and innovation in development process, improvement of manpower skills through quality education, and empowerment of the community to be involved in entrepreneurial activities.

“We must create higher market demand domestically and the rest of the world through exports by adding value to our produce. We are actually motivating agri-business in the country. We must be able to “package” our agricultural products from the surplus of our production,” ADG Edillon stressed.