Agriculture grew 4% in 1st qtr
Gov’t says rice growth goal can be reached
By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:29:00 05/13/2008
Philippine agricultural output grew at a faster pace of 4.0 percent in the first quarter as compared with 3.3 percent in the same period last year, buoyed by production increases in the crops and poultry sub-sectors.
As the period’s biggest gainer, the crops sub-sector, which accounted for 49.48 percent of the total agricultural output, expanded 5.59 percent, boosted largely by increases in corn and banana production.
Rice production, however, grew only 1.96 percent to 3.75 million metric tons, before milling, in the first quarter due to delays in harvests.
The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) had forecast rice production growth in the first quarter at 9.5 percent to 4.02 million metric tons before milling.
“What we see is a delay in the harvest due to a cold spell, which lingered until March,” Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said. “There was a hit in the production of Region 2 [Cagayan Valley] and the Bicol area. But these areas have already been replanted and we expect results by the second quarter of the year.”
BAS Director Romeo Recide said the damaged areas were estimated at 100,000 hectares.
Yap added that another problem was that farmers were too choosy with the hybrid seeds they wanted to use. “If they didn’t find their brand, they opted to go back to certified seeds and there lies the discrepancy in the figures,” he said.
Hybrid seeds are expected to yield a conservative average of 150 “cavans” [50-kilogram sacks] a hectare while certified seeds average 90 to 110 cavans.
Yap said the government was still on track in meeting its target rice production of 7.11 million metric tons, before milling, in the first half of the year, up 5.69 percent than the 6.73 million recorded in 2007.
Yap said he was bullish the overall first-half performance of the agriculture sector in 2008 would be 40 percent better than in the same period last year. He said the 4.5-5 percent full-year growth target for the sector remained attainable.
Corn production rose 16.93 percent to 1.99 million metric tons in the first quarter due to increases in harvest areas and yields, particularly for yellow corn. Last year, corn output reached 1.7 million metric tons.
Banana production expanded by 20.65 percent to 1.93 million metric tons in the first quarter while coconut and sugarcane recovered from last year’s slump as they gained 5.1 percent and 6.27 percent, respectively.
The poultry sub-sector, which includes chicken, chicken egg, duck and duck egg production, grew 4.4 percent. Chicken production grew 4.64 percent.
Growth in the fisheries sector, which accounted for 23.82 percent of total farm output, slowed down to 4.41 percent from 8.48 percent due to a decline in municipal fisheries production.
Commercial fishery production grew 6.06 percent to 292,010 metric tons, while aquaculture output was up 6.67 percent at 605,770 metric tons.
Livestock production, which accounted for 11.78 percent of total agriculture, declined 3.36 percent in first quarter. Pulling down the sub-sector’s growth was the 4.19-percent decrease in hog production. Goat and dairy output, however, expanded by 6.16 percent and 3.79 percent, respectively. Edited by INQUIRER.net
|
