Following a 1.5- percent drop in agriculture output in the second quarter of the year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is focusing on the recovery of the livestock and fisheries subsectors which dragged the country’s performance.
Livestock and fisheries declined 19.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
DA Secretary William Dar in a statement said the livestock sector’s performance was expected due to the African swine fever (ASF).
But he said cases are waning with the aggressive implementation of the barangay-level monitoring of ASF and repopulation programs. These, he added, are expected to clear more provinces from the disease.
“Several ASF-affected areas in Batangas were recently declared free from the disease, and many more will follow suit… A favorable development that we are awaiting by the end of August is the initial report on the efficacy of the ASF vaccine that we are testing in various commercial farms in Luzon,” Dar said.
The DA said for the fisheries subsector, countermeasures for the closed fishing season in the fourth quarter are being prepared. These include investing in aquaculture production such as nurseries and hatcheries for bangus, tilapia and shrimps.
Despite the shortfall of the livestock and fisheries subsectors, the DA highlighted the 8.8 million metric tons (MT) palay production in the first half of the year is the highest in the country’s history.
“With this palay output, we are confident to reach our 2021 target of more than 20 million MT, barring strong typhoons in the second semester,” Dar added.
The entire crops subsector went up by 3.1 percent in the second quarter led by better palay and corn outputs.
The DA said the poultry subsector is expected to further rebound once the economy opens up in the second semester, given the increased demand during the Christmas holidays.
The poultry subsector recorded a 2.5 percent increase in output for the quarter despite a contraction in chicken production.
