Philippines: Agriculture growth slows significantly in Q3

• Nov 16, 2017

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s agriculture sector grew by only 2.32 percent in the third quarter, slower than the three percent growth recorded in the same period last year.

In the nine months ending September, the sector saw an increase of 4.64 percent, based on the latest report by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The 2.32 percent increase in overall performance in the third quarter is also significantly lower than the 6.18 percent growth projection of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Economist Pablito Villegas expected the farm sector to slightly decline during the period, but not as much as it did during the third quarter.

“Usually, the third quarter is lower because of the lean season [for rice] then we also had the bird flu. But it should have been higher since we did not have any typhoons during the period compared to last year,” Villegas told The STAR.

Villegas, however, expects a better fourth quarter as the main harvest season for rice began last month.

“Definitely higher barring all calamities but I think there will be no major [typhoons]. We only have around a month and a half left and we have not had any. Basically, it will be because of good weather,” Villegas said.

Should the DA stick to its seven percent growth projection for the last quarter, the local farm sector may grow up to 5.2 percent for this year, a huge improvement from the 1.41 percent decline last year but lower than the 6.2 percent growth target by the government.

Meanwhile, the agricultural sector grossed P382.5 billion in the third quarter, up six percent year on year, bringing the total to P1.21 trillion in the first nine months, or an increase of nine percent from the previous year.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/11/16/1759208/agriculture-growth-slows-significantly-q3