Livestock, poultry production declines drag Philippine agri output to -3.3%

The Philippines' agricultural output contracted by 3.3% in the first three months of the year to mark the second consecutive quarter of declines, the statistics bureau reported Monday.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the value of agricultural production fell to P421.448 billion in the first quarter at constant 2018 prices.

This compares with the P492.810 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 (-3.8%) and the P443.602 billion in the same quarter last year (-1.7%).

"This was due to the reduction in the livestock and poultry production," the PSA said in an accompanying statement.

Livestock production, which accounted for 14.2% in the total output, plunged by 23.2% in the quarter. Hog production declined by 25.8%.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier blamed the African swine fever (ASF) for the decline in supply of pork in Metro Manila.

President Rodrigo Duterte last month signed Executive Order 128 which lowers the tariff rate for imported pork meat within the minimum access volume (MAV).

The measure provides that fresh, chilled, or frozen pork imports are taxed 5% for the first three months upon effectivity and 10% for the fourth to 12 months. Prior to this, tariffs were set at 30% to 40%.

Meanwhile, poultry production slipped by 7.4% to account for 13.3% of the total output, as chicken production was reduced by 11.2%.

Crop production rose by 3.3% to contribute 58.8% to the total production. Palay increased by 8.6%, while corn rose 6.5% during the quarter.

Fisheries production climbed 0.6% to contribute 13.7% to the total output. Double-digit growths were recorded for mudcrab (alimango) which grew 20.2%; skipjack (gulyasan) by 19.0%; and slipmouth (sapsap) by 15.7%.—AOL, GMA News