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DOUBLE-DIGIT output gains for the country’s main crops allowed the agriculture sector to post substantial growth in the first semester, the government reported yesterday.
The 5.48% expansion for the January-June period, a turnaround from the 2.90% contraction recorded a year earlier, was driven mainly by the crops subsector that accounted for just over half of total farm production.
The result, released along with revised outlooks on second half harvests of the main rice and corn crops, was just short of the upper end of this year’s 4.5-5.5% growth target.
The outcome for the first semester, said Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) assistant director Maura S. Lizarondo, was the best since 2004. “What really brought the agricultural growth in the first half were the crops, particularly, rice, corn and sugarcane,” she said.
Unmilled rice production grew by 14.45% to 7.57 million metric tons (MT), corn was up 37.03% to 3.3 million MT, while sugarcane gained 75.59% to 19.65 million metric tons.
Ms. Lizarondo said the palay and corn output for the period were fresh records, exceeding the 7.37 million MT recorded two years ago for the former and 2008’s 3.293 million MT for the latter.
A slight boost also came from the livestock subsector, which with a 15.27% share of total farm output gained by 0.85% from a year earlier. The fisheries subsector, with a nearly 20% share, contracted by 2.89%, a result blamed on higher fuel prices and unfavorable weather conditions.
In a separate report, the BAS said palay production was expected to hit 9.717 million MT in the second half , bringing total output for the year to 17.294 million MT, a new high but down from the 17.46 million MT earlier forecast.
Output is expected to reach 3.209 million MT in the third quarter while forecast production for October-December could reach 6.508 million MT.
Corn production, meanwhile, is expected to reach 3.795 million MT in the second half , which would raise total output for the year to 7.1 million MT — also down from initial forecast of 7.26 million MT. The BAS said an expected contraction in harvest area would cut into production.
Rolando T. Dy, executive director of the University of the Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agribusiness, said he was keeping a full-year farm growth forecast of 3.5%, noting that the second half will likely be marked by weather disruptions.
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Source: Business World, Aug. 16, 2011
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