MANILA -- The agriculture sector managed to grow by a modest 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 despite typhoons that hit the country.
"It was a challenging year for the Philippine agriculture last year due to typhoons and other weather disturbances that hit the country," Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Crops, livestock, poultry and fisheries contributed to the slight increase in production during the last quarter. At current prices, the gross value of agricultural production amounted to PHP521.2 billion, higher by 4.05 percent than the previous year's level.
From January to December 2018, agricultural production increased by 0.56 percent.
Crops production slightly increased by 0.25 percent which accounted for 50.40 percent of the total agricultural output. However, palay production declined by 2.20 percent as this was the commodity that was mostly affected by typhoons.
Corn production, on the other hand, grew by 10.82 percent. Increases were also registered in the production of coconut, banana, pineapple, coffee, mango, tobacco, abaca, mongo, tomato, onion, cabbage and rubber. At current prices, the value of crop production amounted to PHP295.4 billion, which is 219 percent higher than the 2017 record.
But on an annual basis, crops production posted a 0.98 percent drop in 2018 due to the decline in palay production.
Increments in both volume of production and prices, likewise, led to higher gross values of production for tobacco and cabbage with growth rates recorded at 120.68 percent and 58.38 percent, respectively.
A similar reason was cited for the increases in the gross receipts from abaca by 19.30 percent, onion by 10.62 percent, banana by 6.18 percent, coffee by 3.19 percent and pineapple by 2.62 percent.
Price appreciation this year caused the turnaround in the gross values of production of calamansi, sugarcane and peanut which recorded increases of 64.07 percent, 21.82 percent and 11.58 percent, respectively.
For the same reason, gross receipts were up for eggplant by 10.54 percent and sweet potato by 6.53 percent. The gross receipts from mongo inched up by 0.45 percent. This was attributed to the increase in the volume of production.
Meanwhile, the reduction in the gross value of cassava production by 28.83 percent was due to the drop in the volume of production and lower prices. Also, because of price cuts, gross values of outputs were down for coconut by 32.74 percent, tomato by 27.07 percent, rubber by 16.10 percent and mango by 15.74 percent.
For livestock, it registered a 1.64 percent increase in production, which contributed 17.74 percent to the total agricultural production.
Carabao, hog and dairy came up with output gains during the fourth quarter of 2018 based on records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
At current prices, the value of livestock production reached PHP91.9 billion, up by 7.42 percent from the previous year's level. From January to December 2018, livestock production went up by 1.89 percent.
On the other hand, Piñol said poultry production expanded by 6.99 percent during the last quarter of 2018, accounting for 16.18 percent to the total agricultural output.
The value of poultry production amounted to PHP60.7 billion at current prices. This was 1.74 percent higher than the previous year's record.
From January to December 2018, poultry production increased by 5.75 percent.
Fisheries production, meanwhile, went up by 1.93 percent. It shared 15.68 percent in the total agricultural output. Except for roundscad and yellowfin tuna, all the major fish species recorded increases in output. At current prices, the value of fisheries production reached PHP 73.3 billion or 9.88 percent more this period.
On an annual basis, fisheries output declined by 1.13 percent in 2018.
At current prices, the gross value of fisheries production amounted to PHP 73.3 billion. This was 9.88 percent more than the 2017 record. Because of higher volume of production and prices, expansions in gross receipts were noted for seaweed at 21.70 percent, tilapia at 9.80 percent and milkfish at 9.44 percent.
Similar conditions were reported for skipjack and tiger prawn, and these commodities registered 3.54 percent and 1.89 percent gains in the gross value of production, respectively.
Roundscad recorded a 0.17 percent increment in the gross value of output as a result of price hike. However, production shortfalls resulted in the reduced gross value of production of yellowfin tuna by 15.20 percent.
Collectively, the gross value of output of other fisheries rose by 14.89 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018.
What is important, Piñol said, "agriculture will always rebound." He anticipates 2019 to have a better agriculture performance especially on crops subsector due to various interventions that are now in place such as additional mechanization, improved postharvest facilities, and better seeds.
The DA chief noted the loss in palay production will be offset with the so-called "southern swing" where new agricultural lands mostly in Mindanao will be devoted to palay farming.
Piñol targets 20 million metric tons palay production for this year. (PNA)
