Agriculture production value in the country grew by 0.05 percent in the first quarter of the year, mainly due to the performance of the poultry subsectors, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
At constant 2018 prices, the growth was equivalent to a value of P428.99 billion.
The poultry subsector was the only variable that recorded an improvement for the period at P68.76 billion, a 5.9 percent growth at constant 2018 prices for the quarter, accounting for 16 percent of total agricultural output.
The performance of the subsector was pushed by growths in the production of chicken, chicken eggs and duck, leaving duck eggs as the only segment with lower production.
Chicken production reached 506.28 metric tons (MT) from 470.21 MT, up by 7.7 percent, while chicken eggs increased by 2.4 percent to 179.88 MT from 175.73 MT.
Meanwhile, the livestock sub sector, which contributed 13.9 percent or P59.46 billion to the total value of agricultural production at constant 2018 prices, recorded the biggest decrease in value for the period at 3.6 percent.
Hog production weakened by 4.3 percent to 419.37 MT from 437.99 MT and goat by 4.1 percent to 14.32 MT from 14.94 MT. However, other contributors in the sector such as dairy, cattle and carabao noted improvements.
On the other hand, the decline in the fisheries subsector was due to a 1.3 percent drop in the production value at constant 2018 prices. It contributed P53.73 billion or 12.5 percent to the total agricultural output.
Declines were recorded for bisugo, mud crab, tamban, blue crab, lapulapu, sapsap, milk fish, matangbaka, squid and seaweeds.
Production increases were observed for tambakol, fimbriated sardines, tulingan, skipjack, yellowfin tuna, tilapia, galunggong, talakitok, alumahan and tiger prawn.
Lastly, the crops subsector’s production value declined by 0.3 percent to P247.04 billion and accounted for 57.6 percent or more than half of the total value of production of the country’s agriculture and fisheries.
Weaker production was noted for palay at 2 percent to 4.69 million MT from 4.78 million MT, but corn grew by 0.5 percent to 2.53 million MT from 2.52 million MT.
Growths were also recorded for onion, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cabbage, calamansi, cacao, mango, pineapple, rubber and tomato.
However, declines in production were noted for sweet potato, cassava, mongo, banana, ampalaya, eggplant, coconut, abaca and potato, among others.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said government efforts to modernize agriculture and assist farmers and fishermen helped the sector achieve growth in the first quarter despite challenges brought by the El Nlño and higher input costs.
“Interventions and assistance provided by the government allowed the agriculture sector to fare better this time compared to periods in the past when we had El Niño,” said Tiu Laurel, in a separate statement.
“The impact of reduced rainfall and hotter temperatures were evident in lower crops and fisheries production in the first quarter. If El Niño will persist through the second quarter, we’re cautiously optimistic that the interventions we have taken will allow the agriculture sector to mend and return better results between April and June,” he added.
