May 14, 2005

El Nino the cause of poor Q1 grain harvest in the Philippines

Dry weather has caused a depressed growth for the Philippine agriculture sector in the first quarter of the year. Agricultural output rose 0.55 percent in the first three months of the year, compared to 7.93 percent growth in the same period last year.

Despite the sluggish growth, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the government is still confident it could meet its full-year growth target of 3.4 percent as normal rainfall is expected to return in six to eight week in the tail end of the El Nino. Corn crop contributes 6 percent to the total agricultural output.

The livestock sub-sector has also posted a decline of 2.36 percent in production, along with the fisheries sub-sector which slowed down to 5.94 percent from a high of 20.81 percent growth during the same period in 2004. The poultry sub-sector posted a 7.49 percent growth in the first quarter compared to a 3.4 percent growth last year.

Yap said that the government will now focus on putting in place the quick turnaround (QTA) programs from rice and corn for the wet season, and hope there is an offset to the first quarter slow growth by higher production outputs in succeeding quarters.