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“WE see
better agriculture growth in the fourth quarter. The
3.64-percent growth [in the second quarter] is already
closer to the 3.9 percent we projected for the sector
this year.”
This
assessment is from Director for National Planning and
Policy Dennis Arroyo of the National Economic and
Development Authority (Neda).
He said
the government is more confident of the farm sector’s
growth prospects now that the Department of Science and
Technology has declared the dry spell over in the Ilocos,
Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions. Also, the fourth
quarter is when the Philippines is not normally slammed
by typhoons.
It is in
the third quarter that the imminence of damage to
agricultural production is more likely, since it is in
these months that most of the average 23 typhoons that
hit the country usually occur. But the sector recovers
in the fourth quarter when the main rice crop is
harvested.
The
Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) had earlier
projected a growth of 5.41 percent in the third quarter
and 5.86 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. |
