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Philippines: Agriculture growth seen at 1% in 2021
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is now aiming for a 1-percent growth for the agricultural sector this year as a result of the effects of African swine fever (ASF), typhoons and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new growth forecast is lower than the Agriculture department’s previous target of 2 percent for the entire year.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Fermin Adriano, senior policy adviser to the agriculture secretary, admitted that the department will experience “difficulty” attaining its growth rate target of 2 percent for the whole year of 2021.
“There might be some difficulty in meeting the target of 2 percent given the contraction of the sector. Siguro maglalaro sa 1 percent full year kung wala nang tatamang bagyo. Pero the sector actually performed relatively well. Kaso tinamaan tayo ng ASF, typhoon and Covid (It will settle at about 1 percent of full-year growth if there’ll be no more typhoons. But the sector actually performed well. It’s just that we were hit by the ASF, typhoon and Covid),” Adriano pointed out.
However, he noted that a slight recovery is expected to be seen in the last quarter of the year.
“I think there will be [a] recovery in the last quarter of this year for two reasons: farmers are planting already, including vegetables hit hard by successive typhoons, [and] we expect upswing demand given the Christmas season; there will be a perk up demand for these products [in the] fourth quarter [and we] see a modest recovery on the part of agriculture sector,” Adriano explained.
The DA official also noted that crops will remain to be the main driver of agricultural growth. “Definitely it is performing right now, [and is] pulling up [and we’re seeing rice to grow] at more than 6-percent growth rate.”
“Fortunately, walang problema sa bigas (there is no problem with rice),” he added.
Adriano, however, recalled the negative growth rate on livestock and corn, which were severely hit by successive typhoons in the third quarter — “Jolina,” “Kiko” and “Maring” — with an estimated P2.85-billion worth of agricultural damage and losses.
To make it worse, the total damage cost from Typhoon Maring alone that hit the country in early October has reached P2.26 billion.
But the DA believes that the P4.1-billion fund meant for the National Livestock Program will help fast-track recovery in the sector, according to William Medrano, the Agriculture undersecretary-designate for livestock.
Adriano stressed that the poultry sector posted a positive growth rate in the July to September period, “giving us a push upward.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Monday that the country’s agriculture sector shrank by 2.6 percent in the third quarter of 2021 compared to 0.7-percent growth in the same period last year.
Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/11/10/business/top-business/agriculture-growth-seen-at-1-in-2021/1821625