MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The country's farm sector growth is likely to slow to between 3.8-4.5 percent this year from around 5.0 percent in 2007, the agriculture secretary said Wednesday.

Arthur Yap also told reporters that annual output growth in the fourth quarter was not likely to be as robust as the 5.65 percent in the same 2007 period.

"It looks like the year-end agriculture growth figure will be in a range of below 4.0 percent to 4.5 percent. Let's say 3.8-4.5 percent," he said.

Earlier, the government said that output of the agriculture sector in the third quarter was up 3.31 percent from a year earlier, against a revised 5.51 percent annual growth in the second quarter.

Output of unmilled rice, the mainstay of the sector, was up 10.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, the Department of Agriculture said.

That brought farm output growth in the first nine months of 2008 to 4.19 percent year-on-year against 4.32 percent in the 2007 period.

Farm production accounts for about a fifth of the Philippine's gross domestic product.

The government is targeting to lift farm output by 4.5-5.5 percent this year compared to around 5.0 percent in 2007.