El Niño, typhoon damage crimp farm output

THE DEVASTATING effects of typhoons and prolonged El Niño pulled down the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector in 2016.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) National Accounts showed that sectoral output, as measured by gross value added, contracted 1.3% to P715.51 billion in 2016 (at constant 2000 prices) from P719.74 billion the previous year. The negative turnout was a reversal of the growth (albeit flat) in 2015 at 0.1% and snapped the sector’s five years of consecutive growth.

The agriculture subsector, accounting for 82.7% of the total, contracted 0.6% to P587.56 billion. The forestry subsector also declined, decreasing by 10.1% to P3.62 billion. For its part, the fishery subsector shrank 4.3% to P122.96 billion.

In a separate report by the PSA entitled “Performance of Philippine Agriculture, October-December 2016,” agricultural output declined by 1.4% for the year, way below the government’s 3-5% growth target for the year. The report attributed the decline to prolonged dry spell and damage caused by typhoons during the year.

“The devastating effects of typhoons Karen (internationally known as Sarika) and Lawin (Haima) pulled down production in the crops and fisheries subsectors,” the PSA said in its report, adding that these drops offset increases in livestock and poultry.

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Crop production, which accounted for around half of total value of farm output in 2016, contracted 3.3%, higher than the 2.0% fall recorded in 2015.

Production of palay (unmilled rice) — which contributed about a fourth to total value of farm output — decreased by 2.9% to 17.63 million metric tons (MT), against a 17.91 million MT full-year projection made in November that year.

Corn, which contributed 4% to total value for the entire year, inched down 4% to 7.22 million MT for the entire 2016.

Meanwhile, livestock production, which accounted for 17.9% of the country’s total farm output value, increased by 4.6% in value terms, “[e]xcept for goat, all components of the subsector registered output increments,” the PSA report read.

Fisheries yields, which contributed 13.6% for the output total, decreased the most, posting a 4.2% downturn last year.

The draft Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 released last January showed that the government hopes to prod agriculture growth to 2.5-3.5% annually from 2017 to 2022, after 2013-2015’s one-percent average. — Lourdes O. Pilar