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PHL agriculture output grows 11% in value terms during first half of 2014
By ELIZABETH MARCELO, GMA News

The Philippine agriculture industry grew by 11.26 percent in terms of value and 1.81 percent in terms of volume in the first half of 2014, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Friday.
According to the PSA, the increases were mainly due to the improved performance of the farming sector, specifically the palay, corn and sugarcane subsectors as well as the fishing industry.
Farming and fishing registered P776.5 billion in gross revenues at current prices during the first six months of the year, compared with P697.9 billion a year, as prices received by farmers and fishers went up by an average of 9.28%.
Palay, corn and sugarcane recovered from last year’s slump, boosting the overall value of crops by 18.31 percent, and 3.68 percent in terms of volume.
Crops account for half of the total agricultural production, the PSA said.
Palay harvests reached 8.38 million metric tons, up 4.78 percent from 7.99 million MT, the PSA said.
The PSA attributed the improved performance of the palay industry to a wider harvest area and yield in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and SOCCSKSARGEN and helped by better irrigation and high price of palay which encouraged farmers to plant more.
Corn, sugar, coconut
Corn, sugar, coconut
Corn output grew by 4.7 percent to 3.48 million tons from 3.32 million tons last year, as substantial production increases were recorded in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and SOCCSKSARGEN.
The value of corn harvests climbed by 9.17 percent to P45.1 billion from P41.3 billion.
Sugarcane production grew by 5.11 percent to 15.46 million tons from 14.7 million tons due to area expansions in Kalinga in the Cordilleras, Capiz and Cebu in the Visayas and Sultan Kudarat in southwestern Mindanao.
Other crops that also posted improved output were mango (9.97 percent), cassava (10.04 percent), tomato (4.39 percent), cabbage (1.41 percent) and eggplant (1.94 percent).
Enticed by high farmgate prices farmers were encouraged to plant more, according to the PSA.
Also boosting the sentiments of farmers was the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) implementation of early an cropping program for growers affected by foul weather. Under the program, farmers were able to get seeds and affordable loan packages.
Coconut output, however, continued to slide in terms of harvest due to the scale insect infestation in Quezon, Batangas, Laguna and Cavite, and from the damage inflicted by typhoon Glenda on plantations in Eastern and Western Visayas.
Still, higher prices allowed the coconut industry to grow in value terms by 42.65 percent to P50.3 billion.
Animal industry
The animal industry composed of livestock and poultry subsectors, also posted higher output, growing by 0.94 percent and 0.73 percent respectively.
Livestock, boosted by better production of dairy (3.23 percent) and hog (1.02 percent), grossed P118.9 billion at current prices. That was 6.33 percent more than the P111.84 billion a year earlier.
At the same time, poultry was backed by the increases in production of chicken (2.24 percent) and duck (by 0.50 percent).
Fisheries output, however, declined by close to 2 percent due to lower harvests of milkfish (-2.2 percent), roundscad (-1.36 percent), yellowfin tuna (-0.24 percent) and seaweed (-4-12 percent) as a result of the devastation caused by Typhoon Yolanda last November.
The PSA noted the November 8 typhoon destroyed numerous fish farms and fishing boats in Eastern and Western Visayas, which prevented kept thousands of fisherfolk from venturing out to into the sea.
2015 financial program
2015 financial program
“Tuloy-tuloy lang ang ating pagkayod para sa mabilis na pagbangon ng mga nasalanta nating kababayang magsasaka at mangingisda,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said in statement Friday. “We in the DA family will not allow weather and global market challenges, or man-made adversity like intrigues, affect our work.”
The Department of Agriculture has a proposed budget of P51.7 billion for 2015. During the budget deliberation at the House of Representatives committee on appropriations Wednesday, Alcala said they aim to spend the budget in carrying out initiatives meant to sustain gains in staple food production and in enhancing competitiveness of agro fishery products in global markets.
Alcala said DA's financial program for next year focuses on providing postharvest facilities and machineries such as rice threshers, combine harvesters and transplanters.
This is supposed to help lower losses and production costs and enhance the competitiveness of Filipino agri-fishery products and to encourage more food producers, entrepreneurs and small and medium stakeholders. – VS, GMA News
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