On Tuesday 15 November, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the agriculture sector bounced back in the third quarter of the year, noting the higher output in crops, livestock and poultry subsectors has overcome the long-term impact of El Niño.
Farm output grew 2.98 percent in the third quarter of 2016, reversing a 0.06 percent contraction a year earlier, the statistics office noted in the July-September 2016 Performance of Philippine Agriculture report.
At current prices, the gross value of agriculture output reached P360.9 billion, up 7.33 percent.
In January to September, however, agriculture output was down 1.53 percent.
The crops subsector grew by 5.24 percent in the third quarter, accounting for 45.63 percent of total agriculture output. Palay and corn production increased by 16.35 percent and 10.61 percent, respectively.
Earlier, the PSA said palay and corn outputs for calendar year 2016 may suffer setbacks of 0.08 percent and 2.41 percent, respectively.
Improved production was also noted in high-value crops like pineapple, tobacco, abaca, mongo, cassava, tomato, cabbage and eggplant.
At current prices, the crops subsector churned out P196.9 billion—up 13.78 percent in the third quarter year-on-year.
However, crop production was down 3.60 percent in the first nine months of 2016.
On average, prices in the farm sector were up 4.22 percent in the third quarter.
In January to September, farmgate prices increased by 3.72 percent on average.
(1 Philippine Peso=0.020 USD)
