Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar believes that the local agriculture sector has managed to survive its recent hardships by grabbing the various opportunities for innovation that has come its way.

Dar said the country’s agriculture sector has remained resilient thanks to innovations that were brought about by sheer necessity from the effects of recent natural calamities, animal diseases, and the global pandemic.

“Agriculture was so made that a crisis always turns out as an opportunity for renewal. God designed it that way – crops will ripen, be harvested and die, but tomorrow will be another occasion for planting, recovery and renewal,” Dar said during the Economic and Infrastructure Development Clusters’ pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum.

He further emphasized that the pandemic highlighted several opportunities for the agriculture sector, such as the role of technology in boosting productivity through digital agriculture and e-commerce.

The pandemic also gave the agency the opportunity to pour more investments in both the farming and fishery sector; improve logistics in agriculture through digital technology and improved coordination with the local government units (LGUs); and promote “smart agriculture, fishery, and forestry".

He said the agriculture sector is expected to grow 2.5 percent this year on the back of stronger production in major agricultural commodities such as rice, corn, coconut, fisheries, poultry, and high-value crops.

"For rice, we expect to produce another record harvest of 20.4 million metric tons (MMT), surpassing last year’s record yield of 19.44 MMT. This is equivalent to 93 percent adequacy," the DA chief said.

“Similarly, we would like to note with pride that even at the height of the pandemic last year, coinciding with the lean months of palay (unhusked rice) harvest, the country never experienced ‘pila’ or rice queues,” he added.

He also cited that the incidence of African Swine Fever (ASF), which had caused a huge supply shortfall in the country, has gone down from 4,060 cases in the third quarter of 2020 to only 981 in the first quarter of 2021.

The agriculture chief also revealed that there is "enough supply of fish in the immediate and short-term outlook, resulting in more stable prices at retail markets.‘’