The agriculture sector grew 6.27 percent in the third quarter this year compared to the same period last year, with farmers’ income rising 3.68 percent from July to September.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, citing an  official report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), said the agriculture sector also grew 4.64 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.

Farmers’ incomes for the first nine months likewise rose 4.19 percent compared to the same period last year, the DA Secretary added.

Pinol said that most notable in the sector’s performance in the first three months was the 14.17 percent growth in palay production during the third quarter of the year, which contributed to a 7.2 percent growth for the entire crops subsector for the first nine months of 2017.

Crops accounted for 46.89 percent of total agricultural production in this period, the PSA said in its report.

Piñol said the continuous growth in palay production indicates the DA is on track to achieving its rice industry productivity target, which aims to produce enough to supply the country’s entire rice need in the year 2020. It also boosted the efficiency and productivity of rice farmers through the extensive use of hybrid rice seeds, improved lending facilities for farmers, mechanization of farming activities from planting to harvesting and other interventions.

In its report, the PSA noted that production in the livestock subsector inched up by 0.91 percent during the third quarter of 2017, accounting for 18.37 percent of total agricultural output during the period.

The livestock subsector’s gross earnings rose 14.88 percent compared to the third quarter of 2016, the PSA noted.

The poultry subsector also grew by 3.41 percent during the July-September  period, with chicken and chicken egg production rising by 2.52 percent and 7.67 percent, respectively. Pinol said this showed the resiliency of the poultry industry despite the recent bio-hazard threat it faced during the second quarter of 2017.

The fisheries subsector was the only subsector to register a decline in production during the three-month period, diving by 4.27 percent but still accounting for 17.4 percent of total agricultural production for the third quarter of 2017. ###

(Photo by Russel Delvo, Special Prize Winner, 1st DA National Photography Contest)