DA sees better year ahead for battered agriculture sector

The country’s agriculture chief is optimistic that the farm sector will be able to recover from its dismal growth this year that was blamed mainly on the series of typhoons that hit the country.

On his Facebook page, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the agency expects a better year ahead, with the agriculture sector seen growing by 3.5 percent.

For this year, the sector grew by a measly 0.15 percent—far short of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) growth target of 2.5 percent and paled in comparison to last year’s growth of 4.59 percent.

“Philippine agriculture is expected to post a positive 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent growth in 2019, way above the national target of 2 percent as the crops and fisheries sectors are projected to perform well with the interventions to be implemented by the government through DA,” he said.

He added that the rice industry, which will receive P10 billion annually from the Rice Tariffication Program, may even post a record harvest of 20 million metric tons (MT).

For this year, total rice production was at 19.1 million MT.

“With P10 billion, the DA, through PhilMech, will provide farmers with machinery and equipment worth P5 billion, free high-yielding seeds worth P3 billion from PhilRice, P1 billion for credit through Landbank and P1 billion in training through the Agricultural Training Institute,” he said.

The additional funding is on top of the regular budget allocated to the national rice program every year worth P7 billion.

DA’s forecast for 2018 was initially rosy, but with the onslaught of typhoon “Ompong,” the production of rice, which accounts for almost half of the country’s farm sector growth, was stunted.

Piñol, who has created roadmaps since the beginning of his tenure for different agricultural products like coconut, mango, coffee, abaca, and rubber, said the DA expects to reap the gains of these programs in the coming year.