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Over the past six years, the agriculture sector posted annual production declines except in 2023, when it managed to eke out a slim gain. — Bloomberg
MANILA: The El Nino phenomenon, spate of typhoons, and the prevalence of animal diseases combined to bring down the output of the country’s agriculture sector by 2.2% in 2024.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that in the fourth quarter of last year alone, the value of agriculture and fisheries production declined to 483.58 billion peso from 494.25 billion peso in the same period the previous year.
This marked the third straight quarter of contraction in 2024 following a meager increase in the first quarter of last year, leading to the overall 2.2% decline in the vital sector’s output in 2024.
Over the past six years, the agriculture sector posted annual production declines except in 2023, when it managed to eke out a slim gain.
In 2019, output dipped by 0.25%; in 2020, 1.2%; in 2021, 1.7% and then 0.1% in 2022.
Last year, the crops sector, which accounted for 55.7% of overall output, posted a hefty decline of 4.2%.
The livestock sector, which contributed 14.6%, also saw its output decline by a slightly bigger 4.3% last year.
Fisheries, meanwhile, was down 1.1%.
Only the poultry sector yielded a notable output increase last year of 6.6%.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa primarily attributed the performance of the agriculture sector last year to the substantial damage caused by natural calamities and the El Nino weather phenomenon that is characterised by hotter temperatures and decreased rainfall.
“The primary reason is the damage (sustained by the sector) from El Nino, a series of typhoons, La Nina, pests and diseases, volcanic eruption and other weather systems,” said de Mesa, also the spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The farm sector alone suffered 57.78 billion peso in damage in 2024, surging by 136.4% from 24.44 billion peso a year prior, based on data from the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Centre.
“If I look at the data, this is one of the biggest losses recorded in the sector,” de Mesa said.
“This is one of the biggest damages recorded for a given year in our sector.”
This affected more than 1.4 million farmers and fishers nationwide last year.
The volume of production loss was pegged at 2.19 million tonnes, covering almost one million ha.
Of the total damage, El Nino, characterised by dry weather and decreased rainfall, was blamed for 15.66 billion peso in production loss or 27.1% of the total damage.
The combined effects of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine and Typhoon Leon on the other hand, wiped out 13.47 billion peso worth of local produce.
Additionally, Typhoons Nika, Ofel and Pepito caused 9.9 billion peso in damage.
Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Montemayor told the Inquirer that the decline in production output was expected given the calamities and animal diseases. — Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN