WITH the weather cooperating in the first six months of the year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced that the farm sector was able to recover and grow by 5.48 percent in the January to June period.
Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS) Director Romeo Recide said the good weather ensured that the country’s corn and palay output was robust. These were the same factors for the 4.7-percent and 6.8-percent growth in the first and second quarter, respectively.
“The crop subsector was the major growth driver during the period. Gains in the livestock and poultry output also contributed to the improved performance of the sector,” the BAS report stated.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala noted that palay and corn registered all-time outputs of 7.58 million metric tons (MMT) and 3.31 MMT, respectively. He said the crops subsector, which contributed more than half, or 51.8 percent, to total agricultural output, posted a growth of 11.1 percent.
While it was true that the good weather drove farm-sector growth, Rolando T. Dy, executive director of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA), said base effects also played a major role in the sector’s growth in the first two quarters of the year.
Last year Dy noted that the farm sector shrank by 2.8 percent in the first half of 2010. If the base effect was removed from the 5.48 percent, this means growth in the same period in 2011 could only be at 2.7 percent.
While this growth is significantly lower than the actual figure of 5.48 percent, good weather, more than anything else, was really what saved the sector this year, he said.
“Good weather also made it possible for rain-fed areas to get water. At this rate, even if the sector posts zero growth in the fourth quarter, a full-year growth of 3.5 percent is still possible,” Dy said.
BAS data showed that the livestock and poultry subsectors grew by 0.85 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The fisheries subsector, however, dropped by 2.9 percent, as commercial and municipal fish catch decreased during the first half of 2011.
In all, the gross value of agricultural output amounted to P706.4 billion at current prices, or about 16 percent more than last year’s level.
Among major crops, sugar cane made a full recovery from the effects of the dry spell last year, and grew by 75.6 percent.
Other good performers were tobacco, which grew by 11.5 percent; rubber, 6.2 percent; pineapple, 3.2 percent; banana, 1 percent; and abaca, 1.2 percent.
The crops subsector grossed P411.8 billion at current prices, 31.1 percent higher than last year, while the livestock subsector accounted for 15.3 percent of total agricultural production and posted a 0.85 percent increase in output this year.
The fisheries subsector—which shared 19.6 percent to total agricultural production—dipped by 2.9 percent in the first semester. This was due to the decrease in commercial and municipal fish catch by 15.6 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.
