Philippines: Ag sector grows 6.27% in Q3, farmers’ income by 3.68%
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, citing an official report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), said the agriculture sector also grew 4.64 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.
Photo by Russel Delvo, Special Prize Winner, 1st DA National Photography Contest
Farmers’ incomes for the first nine months likewise rose 4.19 percent compared to the same period last year, the DA Secretary added.
Pinol said that most notable in the sector’s performance in the first three months was the 14.17 percent growth in palay production during the third quarter of the year, which contributed to a 7.2 percent growth for the entire crops subsector for the first nine months of 2017.
Crops accounted for 46.89 percent of total agricultural production in this period, the PSA said in its report.
Piñol said the continuous growth in palay production indicates the DA is on track to achieving its rice industry productivity target, which aims to produce enough to supply the country’s entire rice need in the year 2020. It also boosted the efficiency and productivity of rice farmers through the extensive use of hybrid rice seeds, improved lending facilities for farmers, mechanization of farming activities from planting to harvesting and other interventions.