DA sees signal for positive momentum in H2
The Philippines’ agriculture and fisheries production value grew 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025 on the back of improved output in crops, poultry and fisheries, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Data released by the PSA on Wednesday showed that at constant 2018 prices, the growth rate indicated that the agriculture sector’s total production value rose to P437.74 billion in the first three months of the year.
The growth rate of this quarter’s agriculture and fisheries production value was higher than that posted in the first quarter of 2024 at 0.05 percent.
The poultry subsector recorded the highest improvement for the period. Its production at P75.22 billion indicated 9.4-percent growth at constant 2018 prices for the quarter, which accounted for 17.2 percent of the total agricultural output in the period.
The performance of the subsector was pushed by improvements in the production of chicken, chicken eggs and duck, leaving duck eggs as the only segment with
reduced production value.
Chicken production reached 550.50 metric tons (MT) from 506.28 MT, an 8.7 percent growth, while chicken eggs hit 201.60 MT from 179.88 MT, equivalent to a 12.1 percent increase. Duck production went up by 1.4 percent to 6.44 MT from 6.35 MT.
Meanwhile, the fisheries subsector posted a 1.5 percent increase in production value for the period. It contributed P55.10 billion or 12.6 percent of the total agricultural output.
Production increases were observed for sapsap, mud crab, alumahan, blue crab, milkfish, yellowfin tuna, matangbaka, tilapia, bisugo and tamban.
However, declines were recorded for the period for tunsoy, galunggong, talakitok, tulingan, bigeye tuna, vannamei, skipjack, grouper, tiger prawn and squid.
On the other hand, the crops subsector’s production value grew by 1 percent at constant 2018 prices, a rate equivalent to P249.61 billion. This accounted for 57 percent or more than half of the total value of production of the country’s agriculture and fisheries in the first quarter.
Stronger production value growths were registered for palay at 0.2 percent or from 4.69 million MT to 4.7 million MT, and sugarcane by 19 percent or from 10.17 million MT to 12.1 million MT.
Growth rates in production values were also recorded for tobacco, cacao, rubber, coffee, mongo, ampalaya, tomato, potato, eggplant, pineapple, onion, banana and cassava.
However, declines in production values were recorded for corn, abaca, sweet potato, mango, cabbage, calamansi and coconut.
Among all subsectors, only livestock, which contributed 13.2 percent or P57.82 billion of the total value of agricultural production at constant 2018 prices, experienced a drop in value for the period by 2.8 percent.
Hog production weakened by 3.7 percent to 403.79 MT from 419.37 MT, and carabao by 0.2 percent to 28.52 MT from 28.58 MT. Goat, cattle and dairy experienced production improvements for the subsector.
Reacting to the announcement by the PSA, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., expressed confidence that favorable weather conditions and the intensified interventions of the agency would lead to better incomes for farmers and fisherfolk.
“We are optimistic that the recovery in the first quarter signals momentum for the latter half of the year—especially as we bring new infrastructure online such as cold storage facilities and rice processing systems… Hopefully, we could also begin later this year, the commercial rolling out of the long-awaited vaccine for African Swine Fever (ASF), which will help kickstart the DA’s large-scale hog repopulation effort,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA added that 2025’s first-quarter-yield of palay at 4.09 MT per hectare was the highest since the government began recording such data in 1987.
This year, the agency also aims for a record palay output of 20.46 million MT.
Raul Montemayor, the Federation of Free Farmers national manager, called the first-quarter improvement in agriculture production value a “good sign.”
He emphasized, though, the “need to wait for data in the succeeding quarters because there could be some shifting in production due to calamities and weather patterns.”
“It is a positive outcome but there is still a lot of catching up to do, considering that we actually saw a decline in output in 2024 compared to 2023. Palay continued to be sluggish; among crops, sugarcane was the bright spot,” Montemayor said.
Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc., said the country’s agriculture and fisheries performance was “expected due to the absence of El Niño that affected our agriculture sector in the first quarter of last year.”
“However, we can see a little shift in the consumption pattern of consumers to the poultry sector as a source of food protein due to higher prices of meat, especially of hogs and the continuing effect of ASF. This can be seen in the good performance of chicken and egg production, and the decrease in growth of the hog sector,” Fausto said.
He warned that the local poultry sector may experience “headwinds” if the United States would require the entry of more chicken to the Philippines as a bargaining chip to reconsider the tariff imposed for Philippine exports to the US.
“I can see a better-than-last-year production output for the whole year of 2025 that could even equal or better our production two years ago in 2023. I can also see a little more than the level growth for the fisheries sector as improvements in post harvest facilities and improved aquaculture production for 2025,” Fausto added.
