By Manny Piñol
Philippine agricultural production recovered in the 4th Quarter of 2018 with all farming sectors, including fisheries posting gains which contributed to a 1.8% growth but this was not enough to cover up the losses resulting from a series of tropical storms and typhoons which battered the farms almost every month last year.
The crops sector, rice and corn, and even the high value crops, suffered the most during the year as tropical storms hit the farm lands of the northern portion of the country, punctuated by the damage caused Super Typhoon Ompong in September and the last devastating blow of Tropical Depression Usman in the Bicol Region and Samar Island.
Total damage to crops for the whole year due to typhoons was 1.78-million metric tons with a total value of P35.4-B with Typhoon Ompong accounting for the biggest volume of losses at 1.46-million metric tons worth P27.46-B.
Rice production which posted a historic-high harvest of 19.28-million metric tons in 2017 and was projected to hit 19.4-M MT was only at 19.066-M MT, a record which is still higher than the 2016 production of 17.6-M MT.
Losses in rice production was placed at 759,000-metric tons, a volume which could have resulted in the highest ever harvest in the history of the rice industry of the country.
For 2018, the growth of agriculture and fisheries was a measly .56%, a far cry from the 2017 performance of 3.96% and 1.94% off the Department of Agriculture’s projected 2.5% goal.
But even with the disappointing 2018 performace, the average growth of Philippine Agriculture under President Rody Duterte of 2.26% is still 3.37% higher than the last two years of the previous administration which registered a negative performance of -1.21% for 2015 and 2016.
The data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday bared that farm production grew 1.8% in the 4th Quarter bringing the 2018 growth at 0.56%.
The PSA said the fourth-quarter growth was driven by increases in production across all subsectors.
Here are the salient portions of the PSA report published in the Business World:
“The crops subsector, which accounted for 50.40% of total agricultural output, grew by 0.25% in the fourth quarter of 2018, down from 2.68% in the comparable year-ago period. This was despite a 2.2% decline in palay production to 7.156 million metric tons (MT). The slight growth was attributed to increases in production of corn (10.82% to 1.805 million MT), coconut, banana, pineapple, coffee, mango, tobacco, abaca, mongo, tomato, onion, cabbage and rubber.
“On an annual basis, crop production dropped 0.98% versus 2017’s 6.69% expansion as palay output — the biggest contributor to the subsector — declined by 1.09% to 19.066 million MT from the previous year’s 19.276 million MT. Corn production likewise dropped 1.81% to 7.771 million MT in 2018 from 7.914 million MT in 2017.
“The livestock subsector’s output increased by 1.64% in the fourth quarter, slower than the previous year’s 1.84%. The sector contributed 17.74% to total agricultural production, as carabao, hog, and dairy saw gains. For 2018, livestock production went up by 1.89%, faster than the prior year’s 1.12%.
“Poultry production also expanded by 6.99% in October-December, faster than the comparable year-ago period’s 4.73% and accounting for 16.18% of the total output. For 2018, poultry output went up by 5.75% versus the prior year’s 4.62%.
“The fisheries subsector also saw its output grow by 1.93% in the fourth quarter versus the previous year’s 0.92% contraction to take a 15.68% share in total production, as all major fish species except for roundscad and yellowfin tuna recorded increases. However, it still logged a 1.13% contraction for the entire year, slightly better than 2017’s decline of 1.68%.”
(Graphics downloaded from the BusinessWorld.online show the performance of the Agri-fisheries sector Quarter by Quarter and Year on Year.)
More Stories
Practical Farming: Turn Used Plastic Containers Into Life-Time Laying Nests!
Super Bulb Onion Grown In Alamada, North Cotabato
Kapehan With Pareng Gob