Agri output growth slows to 0.7% in Q3

The Philippine agriculture sector posted a slight growth in the third quarter to mark an improvement from the previous three-month period, but still slower than the same period in 2019.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the agriculture sector grew by 0.7% in the third quarter, which compares with 0.5% in the second quarter and 2.3% in the third quarter last year.

"This was due to the increases in crop and fisheries production. On the other hand, declines in outputs were recorded for livestock and poultry," the PSA said in an accompanying statement.

Crop production, which accounted for 52.7% of the total agricultural output, rose by 4.8% during the quarter, while fisheries rose 1.9%.

On the other hand, livestock production poultry fell by 7.6%, poultry production by 7.2%.

At current prices, total agricultural production for the period rose 4.1% to P404.6 billion versus the comparable period in 2019.

The growth in the third quarter, however, was not enough to offset losses in the first two quarters of the year with the year-to-date agriculture output down by 0.2%, versus the 0.4% growth in the first nine months of 2019.

For the January to September period, crop production was up by 2.3% and fisheries by 0.2%, while livestock production was down by 5.5%, and poultry by 2.8%. — BM, GMA News