PH agriculture output up 1.9% in Q1 2025

The Philippine agricultural sector posted an expansion in production in the first three months of the year, following three straight quarters of contractions due to weather disturbances that hit the country in 2024, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed Wednesday.

PSA data shows that the value of agriculture and fisheries output stood at P437.74 billion in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting a 1.9% increase from the same quarter of 2024. This follows the 2.2% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2024, the 3.6% decline in the third quarter, and the 3.2% drop in the second quarter.

Crops, which accounted for 57.0% of total production value with P249.61 billion, posted an annual increase of 1.0%. The fastest growth was seen in tobacco up by 80.4%, followed by cacao up 23.6%, sugarcane up 19.0%, rubber up 13.6%, and mongo up 10.1%.

The value of palay or unmilled rice produced for the quarter increased by 0.3%, after contracting in all the quarters of 2024. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected the Philippines to remain the world's biggest importer of rice this year.

Poultry accounted for 17.2% of total production with P75.22 billion, reflecting a 9.4% annual increase. Chicken production was up 8.7%, while chicken eggs grew by 12.1%. Duck production rose by 1.5%, while duck eggs declined by 2.2%.

Livestock production was valued at P57.82 billion, equivalent to 13.2% of the total output. This is 2.8% lower than the previous year, with drops recorded in hog and carabao production.

Fisheries accounted for P55.10 billion or 12.6%, posting a 1.5% increase from the same quarter last year. The biggest increases were in slipmouth or sapsap up 21.0%, mudcrab or alimango up 20.0%, Indian mackerel or alumahan up 14.5%, and milkfish or bangus up 7.8%. — VDV, GMA Integrated News