Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said the failure of El Niño to arrive during the fourth quarter last year insulated the sector from the stifling effects of the dreaded phenomenon.
This year, however, the sector may not be so lucky as El Niño is forecast to arrive in the second quarter and is bound to cause change on the coconut and sugar industries," Panganiban said.
But then again, the arrival of the El Niño may not even come as expected since, as you can see, it rains often now," Panganiban said. "It might just defer its arrival like it did last year," he added.
According to documents gathered by The STAR, the crops sub-sector posted a 3.05-percent expansion last year mainly due to the "impressive production of palay, coconut, and banana."
These crops chalked up output increases of 5.11 percent, 14.52 percent and 7.40 percent, respectively, a report said, with the sub-sector’s output valued at P303.4 billion, at current prices.
The production of palay grew by 5.1 percent from last year‘s figures to 12.4 million metric tons this year mainly due to the "use of good seeds, sufficient irrigation and adequate fertilizer."
Romeo Recide, director of the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, said palay production could have surpassed the government’s target of 12.5 million metric tons "had there been no damages wrought by several typhoons, particularly Reming and Seniang, in the fourth quarter."
Total corn production, Recide said, dropped by 1.6 percent from its year-ago level, settling at 4.51 million metric tons because of bad weather conditions. The setback, he said, cost the sub-sector at least 73,000 metric tons of the crop.
The livestock sub-sector grew by 6.93 percent from year-ago figures, chalking up gross revenues of P100.6 billion mainly due to the country’s dependence on local products amid the onslaught of the "Mad Cow" disease abroad.
"We usually get our livestock from Europe but when the disease broke out there, we brought locally-produced products instead, fearful of the harmful effects of the disease," a source told The STAR.
The poultry sub-sector posted an 11-percent growth from last year’s figures with revenues amounting to P73.6 billion because of an upsurge of chicken and egg production.
Aquaculture drove the fishery sub-sector to a 1.74-percent increment in production, registering a 5.82-percent growth with gross revenues of P95 billion. "While municipal fisheries sustained a steady output climb, commercial fisheries stood as a loser this year," Recide said.