Farm output drops in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s agriculture and fisheries sector contracted by 1.3 percent in the second quarter, pulled down by the fisheries sector, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA said the value of production in agriculture and fisheries amounted to P427.69 billion from April to June at constant 2018 prices.

The decline was higher than the 0.5 percent contraction in the same quarter last year and was a reversal of the 2.1 percent growth in the first quarter.

But at current prices, the value of production in agriculture and fisheries amounted to P551.5 billion, or an annual growth of 3.4 percent.

However, the value of the country’s farm output managed to eke out a gain of 0.4 percent in the first half of the year versus the decline of 0.4 percent last year.

The PSA attributed the reduction in the value of the country’s agriculture output in the second quarter to the fisheries production.

“The big drag on agricultural output was the stark drop in fisheries, which fell 14.2 percent possibly due to complications related to a fishing ban,” ING Bank senior economist Nicholas Mapa said in a text message.

The fisheries output contributed 13.8 percent to the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries and was valued at P58.81 billion, down by 14.2 percent from P68.56 billion a year earlier.

The PSA said only tiger prawn (sugpo) and roundscad (galunggong) saw higher growth during the period.

Meanwhile, crops production – which accounted for 56.3 percent of the total – increased by 1.2 percent to P240.83 billion.

The value of palay (unhusked rice) output increased by 1.1 percent, while corn declined by 0.8 percent.

However, Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) board chairman and former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor expressed concern  over the “minimal increase” in value of rice production, “considering that palay prices were significantly higher” during the quarter.

“This implies that actual production was flat or even declined,” he said in a text message.

PSA data showed palay output reached 4.25 million metric tons in the second quarter, slightly up from 4.2 million MT in the same period last year.

From January to June, palay output rose three percent to nine million MT from 8.7 million MT.

In a statement, Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for rice industry development Leocadio Sebastian said a three percent growth in first semester production over the same period in 2022 is excellent news.

He said the PSA report is also higher than the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) estimate of 8.7 million MT for the period, and is also higher than the production levels for first-half output of 2022 and 2021.

“With the three percent production growth in the first semester, we can expect that barring the occurrence of destructive typhoons, the production for 2023 could surpass 20 million MT,” Sebastian said.

The PSA data showed palay output reached 4.25 million metric tons from 4.2 million MT last year.

While the crops subsector enjoyed growth this quarter, it may see some pressure in the succeeding quarter due to adverse weather conditions, which could weigh down on the overall farm output.

“For the second half, we could see agriculture as a whole struggle as crop production could be weighed down by storm damage and the ill effects from the El Niño weather phenomenon,” Mapa said.

As for livestock, the sector expanded by 0.7 percent to P63.51 billion, slower compared to the 2.1 percent growth a year earlier. It contributed 14.8 percent to the total agriculture output.

Hog was the major contributor to the value of livestock production as it increased by one percent.

This was welcomed by the hog industry as it reflects success on the part of the hog farmers, National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) president Chester Tan said.

“The reason behind is the expansion of some big farms in our country, although the existing medium, small-scale farms, also contribute slowly in repopulating since early last year because it takes time to recover especially those who self-depopulated  and encountered African swine fever in 2019, 2020,” he said.

Contributing 15.1 percent to the total, the poultry sector  saw a 1.5 percent rise in the value of production to P64.54 billion. The growth, however was slower compared to the 7.8 percent jump a year earlier.

Chicken and duck exhibited improvements in the value of production but chicken and duck eggs contracted during the period.