Agriculture grew by 1.47 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Contributing to the sector’s performance were the production gains in the crops, livestock and poultry subsectors. At current prices, gross value of agricultural production amounted to PhP 444.0 billion. This was 8.94 percent higher than last year’s earnings.

The crops subsector which contributed 53.76 percent to total agricultural output went up by 1.79 percent. Palay and corn posted production increases of 4.61 percent and 4.66 percent, respectively. Improvements in production were also noted among the major crops such as coconut, banana, pineapple, tobacco, abaca, peanut, mongo, tomato, eggplant and rubber. The subsector grossed PhP 252.2 billion at current prices, up by 8.24 percent from previous year’s record.

The livestock subsector registered a 2.11 percent growth in output. It shared 16.96 percent in the total agricultural production. Hog, the major growth driver, increased by 2.39 percent. The gross value of livestock production amounted to PhP 75.5 billion at current prices which was 15.46 percent more than last year’s record.

In the poultry subsector, production expanded by 5.24 percent. It accounted for 15.93 percent of the total agricultural output. Chicken and chicken eggs contributed to the subsector’s positive performance with respective growths of 4.93 percent and 7.42 percent. At current prices, the subsector’s gross earnings amounted to PhP 57.5 billion, or 8.53 percent higher than the previous year’s level.

Production in the fisheries subsector declined by 4.61 percent. The subsector contributed 13.36 percent to the total agricultural output. Except for skipjack and seaweed, all the major species recorded lower production levels. The subsector grossed PhP 58.8 billion. This represented a 4.63 percent improvement compared to last year’s gross earnings.

On the average, farmgate prices went up by 7.36 percent during the first quarter of 2018. Price uptrends were recorded in all subsectors; crops at 6.33 percent, livestock at 13.07 percent, poultry at 3.13 percent, and fisheries at 9.68 percent.

See more at the Performance of Philippine Agriculture landing page.