November 26, 2003

Philippines Agricultural Production Grew 5.7% in Jan-Sep 2003
 

Philippines' total volume of agricultural production grew 5.7% in the first nine months of the year.

From January to September 2003, the agricultural industry produced 54.1 million metric tons of goods, consisting of the major and other crops, livestock, poultry, and fishery, from 51.2 million metric tons for the same period last year.

This year's performance is an improvement over that of 2002 covering the period from January to September, where production only increased by 0.4% from almost 51 million metric tons produced in 2001.

Overall, agricultural production posted a gain year-on-year. Excluding major crops, however, subsectors grew by a rate less than in 2002.

Production of major crops, which include palay, corn, coconut, sugarcane, banana, pineapple, coffee, mango, tobacco and abaca totaled 43.5 million metric tons, gaining a 6.7% increase from last year's 40.8 million metric tons.

Major crops, which largely contributed to the total agricultural production in the first nine months of 2003, initially suffered a slight downturn last year from 2001's total production of 41.05 million metric tons.

Livestock posted a 3.1% increase in production to 1.58 million from 1.53 million metric tons. Carabao, cattle, hog, goat and dairy comprise this sector.

The poultry sector, consisting of chicken, duck, and chicken and duck eggs, grew by 3.7% to 1.08 from 1.04 million metric tons. 

Fishery from municipal, commercial and aquaculture production gained 3.6% to 2.56 from 2.47 million metric tons in 2002.