Agriculture rebounded 1.8% in third quarter

Agriculture rebounded 1.8% in third quarter

The agriculture sector grew 1.8-percent year-on-year in the third quarter to end two quarters of contraction, on higher crops, livestock and poultry production, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday.

Data from the PSA showed this followed the sector’s 0.6-percent decline in the second quarter and 0.3-percent contraction in the first quarter.

This brought the agriculture sector’s average growth in the first three quarters to 0.3 percent, an improvement from the 2.5-percent drop in the same period last year.

“The value of production in agriculture and fisheries at constant 2018 prices increased 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2022. In particular, the value of crops, livestock and poultry production posted increments. Meanwhile, the value of fisheries production dropped during the period,” the PSA said in a statement.

Crops, which accounted for 53.9 percent of the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries, went up by 1.8 percent in the third quarter. The PSA said rice and corn production rose 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Livestock output increased by 4.0 percent, led by 4.5-percent growth in hog production, while poultry production expanded by 6.4 percent. Fisheries production sank 4.2 percent.

“At current prices, the value of production in agriculture and fisheries, which amounted to P501.58 billion, was 12.3 percent higher than the level in the same period last year,” the PSA said.

The agriculture and fisheries output represents about a tenth of the gross domestic product.

The PSA also said it revised the second-quarter gross domestic product growth rate upward to 7.5 percent from the preliminary estimate of 7.4 percent.

It said the major contributors to the revision were construction, from 19.0 percent to 19.5 percent; real estate and ownership of dwellings, from 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent; and manufacturing, from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent.