Agriculture output in the fourth quarter of 2022 declined by 1 percent, pulled down by crops and fisheries sectors.
Total production in 2022 was almost flat, down by 0.1 percent which is a slower drop from 2021’s 1.7 percent.
The Philippine Statistics Authority data showed the fourth quarter performance was a reversal from the 0.5 percent increase recorded in the same period in 2021.
At current prices, the value of agricultural production for the quarter amounted to P611.52 billion, up 9.4 percent while the value for the entire 2022 hit P2.14 trillion, higher by 7.5 percent.
The crops subsector which contributed the biggest to total agricultural output at 59.1 percent decreased 1 percent during the quarter as reductions in production were registered for palay, corn, rubber, mango, ampalaya, calamansi, mongo, cabbage, banana and eggplant.
Palay production during the quarter decreased by 2.5 percent to 7.22 million metric tons (MT) from the previous 7.4 million MT.
Corn dropped 6.9 percent drop to 1.98 million MT from 2.12 million MT.
The drop in crops could have been higher if not for the increased production of tobacco, pineapple, potato, sweet potato, abaca, cacao, coffee, coconut, tomato and cassava.
The fisheries subsector which had a 13.8 percent share to the total agri output, went down 6.6 percent as several fish species recorded output contractions namely tambakol, mudcrab, sapsap, talakitok, bisugo, alumahan, grouper, tamban, tilapia, tiger prawn, milkfish, blue crab, galunggong and tulingan.
The poultry subsector with 1.8 percent improvement in output for the fourth quarter of 2022 contributed 12.5 percent to the total agricultural production as all its contributors recorded increased productions.
Expansions in the value of production were recorded for duck eggs at 4.3 percent or from 12,910 MT to 13,460 MT; duck, also by 4.3 percent or from 6,790 MT to 7,080 MT; chicken by 2.3 percent or from 483,030 MT to 494,120 MT; and chicken eggs by 0.2 percent or from 174,580 MT to 174,990 MT.
The PSA report said the livestock subsector cornered 14.3 percent of agricultural output and grew 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter on improved hog and dairy production.
Hog, which is the major component of the subsector, experienced a 3.4- percent improvement to 465,320 MT from 450,220 MT for the quarter as dairy production went up 1 percent to 6,890 MT from 6,820 MT.
The sector’s performance could have been higher if not for the reduced production of goat, cattle and carabao for the period.
Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), said the slight decrease in the production of rice and corn is expected due to the increase in cost of inputs like fertilizers, fuel and natural calamities.
Fausto said better yields are expected this year because of more government subsidies and the use of high yielding rice varieties, among other factors.
He said hogs production is on the road to recovery as commercial farms are learning to live with the African swine fever through proper biosecurity measures.
He added poultry is always resilient and can cope up even with avian flu.
Fausto said backyard growing of livestock and poultry may eventually be “replaced by big commercial farms as the requirements for modernization and biosecurity measures becomes a necessity.” Commercial farms have a complete value chain facilities that can shield them from import competition.
Fausto cited the need to “expedite the development of aquaculture farms and the establishment of mariculture parks with more fish cages to increase fisheries output.”
Elias Jose Inciong, United Broiler Raisers Association president, said the decrease in the country’s agricultural performance “is a glaring indication of the declining share of producers, mainly farmers and fisherfolks in the value chain.”
Inciong said this is a “logical consequence” of the government’s neglect of the local agriculture and fisheries sector and emphasis on importation, adding that the recent problems in the supply of onions is a “preview of what will happen” to the sector if such moves persists.
For Raul Montemayor, Federation of Free Farmers national manager, a “worse performance” was expected for the country’s agricultural output especially for crops due to higher costs of outputs.
“Overall, although there may have been intervening factors like calamities, it appears that the billions being spent for the agriculture sector are not having the desired impact and the DA must make an in-depth analysis of why this is so,” Montemayor explained.
For Jayson Cainglet, executive director of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, the decline could have been caused by the “unprecedented imports for the past three years across commodities.”
Cainglet said there is currently “no motivation to farm or raise livestock as policies enacted further discouraged local farmers to produce.”
