PH agri output down 3.3% in Q1

Philippine agriculture production decreased by 3.3 percent in the first quarter of 2021, which is a sharper drop compared to the 1.7-percent decrease recorded in the same period a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA attributed the sector’s dismal performance to “the reduction in the livestock and poultry production” amid higher production from crops and fisheries.

The value of agricultural production stood at P484.8 billion, up by 8.2 percent from P448.1 billion in the past year.

According to the PSA, crop production grew by 3.3 percent, contributing 58.8 percent to the total agricultural production. This, as palay (unmilled rice) and corn improved by 8.6 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.

Double-digit production growths were recorded for coffee at 12.4 percent and cacao at 11.8 percent.

Production improvements were also noted for mungbean (6.2 percent), pineapple (5.7 percent), mango (4.1 percent), rubber (3.8 percent), bitter gourd (2 percent), and tomato (1.8 percent).

Eggplant and banana also saw a 1-percent increase in production.

However, productions were lower for potato by 26.4 percent, abaca by 15.3 percent, onion by 13.7 percent, cabbage by 9.6 percent, cassava by 7.3 percent, tobacco by 6.2 percent, and sugarcane by 4.5 percent.

Outputs for calamansi and sweet potato fell by 1.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Coconut and other crops saw its production go down by 0.8 percent each.
The value of crop production amounted to P267 billion, 7.2-percent higher than the
previous year’s level.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the Department of Agriculture (DA) will continue to implement its Plant, Plant, Plant program mainly focused on increasing basic food commodities such as rice, corn, vegetables, livestock, poultry and fisheries — comprising more than 70 percent of agricultural gross value added (GVA).

“We have also included the coconut sub-sector, as we need to increase its contribution of four percent to total agricultural GVA, being the country’s top export product. Thanks to the recently enacted ‘Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Law or RA (Republic Act) 11524,’ we now have substantial budgetary resources to modernize and industrialize this ‘sleeping giant,’” said Dar in a statement on Monday.

Livestock production, which accounted for 14.2 percent of the total agricultural production, declined by 23.2 percent.

Hog, the major contributor for livestock, registered a 25.8-percent decline in output while cattle sustained a two-digit decline in production at 10.2 percent.

Impact of ASF

“We expected the poor performance of the hog industry as our efforts to control the African swine fever (ASF) and repopulate ASF-free areas are yet to bear fruits,” Dar said.
“We are aggressively taking steps to help the country’s swine industry recover from the ASF. These include the ‘Bantay ASF sa Barangay’ and its twin hog repopulation program,” he added.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said local government units, veterinary firms and practitioners, the academe, and the government’s two main financial institutions — the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) — are joining the agency in the two aforementioned programs.

LandBank and DBP are lending P30 billion and P12 billion, respectively, to commercial swine raisers in ASF-free areas.

Contractions in production were also posted for carabao by 7.4 percent, goat by 6.7 percent, and dairy by 1.5 percent.

The value of livestock production rose by 10.8 percent to P82.1 billion during the first three months of the year.

Poultry, which contributed 13.3 percent to the country’s total agricultural production, saw a 7.4-percent decrease.

Duck and chicken recorded reductions in production by 11.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively.

But output growth was seen for chicken eggs (3 percent) and duck eggs (0.7 percent).
The value of poultry production hit P69.1 billion, a 10.6-percent growth from a year ago.

Fisheries output

Fisheries, which shared 13.7 percent in the total agricultural production, inched up by 0.6 percent.

Double-digit increases in production were noted for mudcrab (alimango) by 20.2 percent, skipjack (gulyasan) by 19.0 percent, and slipmouth (sapsap) by 15.7 percent.

Moreover, production improvement was observed for the following fish species: Bali sardinella (tamban) by 8.1 percent, cavalla (talakitok) by 8 percent, tilapia by 8 percent, big-eyed scad (matangbaka) by 4.7 percent, milkfish (bangus) by 1.2 percent, and tiger prawn (sugpo) by 0.4 percent.

But production decreases were registered for fimbriated sardines (tunsoy) by 37.5 percent, threadfin bream (bisugo) by 18.7 percent, yellowfin tuna (tambakol/bariles) by 17.6 percent, grouper (lapu-lapu) by 13 percent, and frigate tuna (tulingan) by 7.3 percent.
Collectively, production of “other fisheries” tumbled by 5.8 percent.

The value of fisheries production amounted to P66.6 billion, representing a 6.4-percent increase this quarter.