Philippine farm output rises in 2017

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoons that came late last year failed to dampen the Philippine agriculture sector, which significantly recovered in 2017 after suffering from a decline in 2016, the statistics agency reported Friday.

Agriculture posted a 2.20 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2017, rebounding from the 1.09 percent drop in the same period in 2016.

That brought the local farm sector’s full-year expansion to 3.95 percent, a big jump from the 1.4 percent decline registered a year ago.

However, the full-year growth perched below the government’s target band of 5-6 percent in 2017.

Meanwhile, gross value of agricultural production, at current prices, amounted to P500.4 billion, up by 9.27 percent from the previous year’s record.

“Improvements in production were noted in the crops, livestock and poultry subsectors. On the other hand, the fisheries subsector recorded a decline in production during the same period,” the statistics agency said.

Crops subsector, which contributed 51.20 percent to the total agricultural output, surged 2.66 percent in the last three months of 2017.

Livestock subsector, which shared 17.78 percent in the total agricultural production, clocked a 1.84 percent output gain in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Poultry production, which accounted for 15.40 percent of total farm output, expanded by 4.73 percent.

Fisheries subsector, which has a 15.63 percent share in total agricultural performance, slipped 1.18 percent, with lower production levels seen for tiger prawn, roundscad and skipjack.

Farm output accounts for about a tenth of the Philippines' gross domestic product.

The government is scheduled to announce the Philippines’ fourth quarter and full-year GDP performance on January 23.