According to statements by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) of Northern Mindanao, there was a 27.9 percent decrease in the volume of vegetables, root crops, fruits and industrial crops in the second quarter of 2019.
Neda-Northern Mindanao traced the overall decline to the occurrence of the weak El Niño, which started in the later part of 2018 until July of this year, which brought damage to crop areas in the region. Banana and pineapple, which contributed the largest share to total fruit production, showed negative harvests during the second quarter of 2019, registering 418,610 tons (a decrease of 0.19 percent) and 352,733 tons (a decrease of 0.09 percent), respectively.
Meanwhile, an upward trend was noted in the first quarter's estimated value of selected commodities at P15.969 billion. While there were reductions in the production volume of most commodities, the average values were dictated by the favorable increases in farm gate prices pushing the quarter's overall value to grow by more than ten percent.
Source: sunstar.com.ph